Shattering Glass
by letsdosomeliving
Summary: It doesn't matter that Aiden loves her. She doesn't know what goes on in his head and that scares her. A lot. But there is one thing she most definitely knows: she needs to protect Tori. It doesn't matter to what lengths she has to go to.
1. Introduction

_A/N: New Story! First off I want to say that the idea for this story came when I saw this: _ : justicegillies . tumblr (.com) / post / 20361395208 / fake-movie-challenge-title-winter-genre _So credit goes to this wonderful person._

_I always pictured Liz and Ian playing siblings in one way or another so I thought I try my hand on a story. It's loosely based on the movie poster above but of course it plays in the Victorious universe and I also couldn't stay away from throwing in Jori romance (Like I always do. I'm horrible.)  
_

_So here's the introduction. Tell me if I should continue or if I should just leave it at that.  
_

* * *

_**Shattering Glass**  
_

He is the most dangerous man she knows.

It doesn't help that he is her brother.

There was a time when she had been so scared of him, that she locked the door to her room whenever he was at home and she would only come out when she knew that someone else was in the house with them. That was the time she found out that her brother was a murderer.

She was 12 at the time. She knew the girl who got killed: Melissa Clark, her babysitter. The girl had been 15 or 16, Jade couldn't really remember her exact age anymore. And, as most girls, Melissa had a crush on Jade's big brother, which really wasn't something unusual. Aiden was a handsome guy, his boyish smile and piercing blue eyes working like a magnet on girls. And even though he never brought a girlfriend home, Aiden loved to flirt and use his charm on girls whenever he could. And he did use it on Melissa. One night, after Jade's parents were back from their dinner and Aiden was back from soccer practice, he offered to walk her home, which she gladly accepted. But less than three nights later an old couple had found her body, lying in her own blood behind a bush, various stab wounds in her chest area. The police immediately knew it was murder and they suspected Jade's brother because according to witnesses, he was the last person Melissa was seen with. And Jade knew that too. There hadn't been enough proof though, so the investigations against him were dropped.

But as much as Jade didn't want to believe it, she knew it was him. She had seen the tiny stains of red on his shirt before he disposed it. For a split second she had seen fear in his eyes when the police officer showed up at their house, before he quickly masked it and acted surprised. Her parents were clueless though. Her mom had been outraged that someone would suspect her son, her _baby_, to have murdered a young girl. And her father had sat there, shaking his head and asking the officer over and over again how he "dared to pull up the nerve to come here and suspect a perfectly innocent young man".

But he wasn't innocent.

After a while, everyone pretty much forgot about the incident and moved on. Everybody except for Jade. She couldn't look at her brother the same way anymore. She always looked up to him, her entire life, she wanted to be like him, but the possibility that her big brother could be a killer was enough to shatter her view of him. The love and adoration she always felt for him was quickly replaced by disappointment and pure fear. She was so scared of him to the point where she locked her door and refused to stay alone with Aiden. Jade needed her time but eventually, she calmed down and almost forgot about Melissa.

Almost.

Just a year and a half later, shortly after Jade's and Aiden's parents got a divorce, another girl was murdered. They never found her body and she is still believed to be missing but Jade knew that she wasn't alive anymore. Her name was Anna and she had been only one year older than Jade. The girls had met at school and soon befriended each other, apparently much to the dismay of Jade's brother. He didn't like her really much and he made it very clear, always trying to persuade Jade into staying away from her, telling her that she could find a new friend, a better one. Jade's mom always brushed it off when Jade asked her why Aiden was so against Anna, telling her that he was just being her overprotective brother who, after the divorce, was just concerned for his little sister's well being. More than once did he tell Jade that Anna was a bad influence on her, but she didn't listen. Now, thinking back on it, she should have, because then Anna would probably still be alive. She went missing, from one day to the other and up to this day no one ever heard from her. But Jade didn't think it was a coincidence that Aiden seemed to be happier again, almost relieved that Anna wasn't with his little sister anymore. Jade knew she was dead.

And she was sure that Aiden was involved.

After the Anna incident, Jade decided that she would never bring anyone home again. The only person who Jade allowed to come to her house was Caterina Valentine, a bubbly little brunette - now a red head - who could always bring a smile to your face. She and Cat had grown up together and Aiden looked at her like his second little sister. Jade knew he would never do something to her, let alone kill her. Cat was safe and always welcome in their house. So Cat stayed the exception.

Until Beck Oliver stepped into her life.

Jade had tried her hardest not to fall for him. She had tried to avoid him, she had tried to push him away but he kept trying, much to Jade's annoyance. He didn't care about her crude and bitter attitude she had constructed to keep people away from her, to keep them at a certain distance, simply to keep them safe. Beck tried everything to make her let him in.

And he succeeded.

He peeled off the layers of fear, one by one, and made her fall in love with him. And she _couldn't _stay away from him any longer. She wanted to be with him, every minute of the day because he made her feel safe, he made her feel normal. But she was still scared. She was scared for Beck, scared that he would die if they would keep spending time with each other. So Jade snuck out and started seeing him without telling anyone. Beck had been more than wary, but he didn't question her behavior. Because he was just as smitten with Jade as she was with him.

But Aiden eventually found out about them, although Jade really had no clue as to how he did. He just asked her one afternoon how her boyfriend was and Jade's heart nearly stopped. But strangely, he was extremely okay with Beck and Jade's relationship, which surprised Jade quite a bit. But nevertheless, Jade avoided bringing Beck home, mostly spending all her time with him in his RV. After about a year of dating Beck, Jade finally started to open up to him after they had a horrible fight with each other. After much hesitation from Jade's side and a lot of pushing from Beck, Jade told him about Aiden and why she was the way she was. He was more than shocked and he needed quite some time to let the new found information sink in, understandably so. After the first shock wore off, they talked it through some more, Jade making Beck swear that he wouldn't tell a soul about this. After all, Beck was the only one who knew about Aiden. Not even Cat knew, Jade not wanting to taint clueless Cat's view of her brother. Besides, Jade thought she was far too innocent, too sweet to really grasp the fact that Aiden wasn't the nice person Cat always saw. So Beck swore to secrecy and with Beck finally knowing everything about her, Jade felt a huge burden being lifted off of her shoulders.

Now at 17, Jade isn't really scared of her brother anymore. Maybe because he isn't living at home anymore, but far away, off to college. She became a little more carefree, more relaxed. And after she fell in love with Tori Vega, she didn't think her life could get any better.

It came as a surprise to both girls when they realized they had feelings for each other. Especially since Jade was with Beck. But soon enough Jade found herself falling more and more for Tori and Beck became the guy she used to love. He had been devastated when Jade broke up with him and he felt even worse when he found out that she had left him for Tori. He wasn't mad though. He could see that Jade was happy and that's all he ever wanted. But he couldn't bring himself to act like he was completely okay with Jade's new relationship.

So Beck and Jade avoided each other as much as they could, which was a pretty hard task considering they had mutual friends. But somehow it worked and they managed to get on with each other normally. They didn't talk much anymore which saddened Jade but she knew that this was how Beck was dealing with her and Tori.

After 3 months of dating Tori, Jade finally plucked up the courage and introduced her to her parents. Jade's father hadn't been thrilled by the fact that his daughter was dating a girl (Jade really didn't expect anything else from him though), but he accepted her decision. Her mother on the other hand was hesitant at first but the second she met Tori, all her worries were blown away. She loved Tori and fully supported their relationship from the beginning on.

But now, everything seems to be spinning out of control.

Because he's back.

Jade's past comes back to haunt her, destroying everything that she built up for herself and she feels like a puppet, dancing to her master's tune. It doesn't matter that Aiden loves her. She doesn't know what goes on in his head and that scares her. A lot. But there is one thing she most definitely knows: she needs to protect Tori.

It doesn't matter to what lengths she has to go to.


	2. Chapter 1

She sighs deeply as she walks through the front door, kicking it shut with her foot and then immediately steering for the kitchen. As if on cue, her stomach growls loudly and Jade walks over to the refrigerator, chucking her bag onto the kitchen table on her way over.

"Ah, look who the wind brought in."

Jade freezes when she hears the strange, but still so familiar voice. Her eyes go wide and she forces out a breath through her closing throat, a feeling like someone is choking her awakening inside of her. It couldn't be. He wasn't here, was she going crazy now? She turns, slowly, and her eyes widen at the sight of her smirking brother leaning on the doorway of the kitchen. Jade's heart picks up speed, she can hear it pounding in her ears, _so loud_, and she wonders if he can hear it too.

"Aiden."

Her breath gets stuck in her throat as her brother comes closer until he stands right in front of her, bending down to kiss her cheek. A hearty laugh escapes his mouth and he wraps his strong arms around his tense sister, hugging her close to him. His tight grip on her mixed with his cologne creeping up her nose almost suffocates her but she can't do anything but stay in his embrace, her arms hanging limply by her side. She doesn't want this, she wants to push him away, throw him out of the house. But she can't.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. Don't be so surprised."

When he finally releases her, Jade forces out a smile and tries to swallow the lump that steadily continues to grow in her throat. "Well, what do you expect? What are you doing here?"

Aiden smiles widely, his blue eyes crinkling as he looks at his little sister, completely oblivious to the inner war Jade was battling with. "I just wanted to visit my family. I really missed you guys." Jade nods and shoots him a nervous smile, not being able to say the same about her older brother. It had been so refreshing, to say the least, ever since Aiden went off to college. She didn't have to worry about anything. Of course she hadn't been so naïve to think that her life could abruptly change when her brother wasn't living at home anymore, but Jade did believe that it slowly could get better. But now, with Aiden standing _right_ in front of her with the brightest smile imaginable, she realizes that it will never be as easy as she likes to picture it to be. She hopes that this is just a dream from which she would wake up at any second but when Aiden laughs again and envelopes her into another tight hug, she knows she's _definitely _not dreaming.

So Jade hesitantly raises her arms and carefully places them around her brother, her smile slipping from her face as a feeling she can only describe as fear settles deep into her stomach.

…

"Mom, it's really enough now. I'm gonna blow up if I eat any more!"

Jade silently watches her mom sit down again, the lips of the older woman raised in a loving smile. "I'm sorry. I'm just so happy that you came to visit us!"

There isn't a semester break. But of course her mom didn't question any further when Aiden had said that he was just taking a little time out before exams were coming up. It was stupid. But it was Aiden, and Aiden could tell their mother the most ridiculous lies and she would believe them without even blinking. It was one of his many gifts, to lie so convincingly that sometimes Jade thinks even _he_ believes himself. It made Jade wonder if this was something she had picked up from him, if he was the reason she was such a good actress.

"I'm happy too, Mom." Aiden lets his eyes wander to Jade, who's sitting directly across from him, and gives her a small wink. She slightly smiles back at him, her eyes scanning his face, searching for something, _anything_, that would tell her why he really is here.

"Jade, do you want some more?"

Her eyes reluctantly shift to her mother. "No, I think I'm going up to my room," she says slowly, standing up. " I'm pretty tired."

"Oh man, are you sure? I thought we could catch up a little." She smiles at Aiden, hoping that it looked convincing enough to him. "We can do that tomorrow."

Aiden sighs and nods at her. "Okay, sis. Have a good night." Jade smiles one last time and after also bidding good night to her mother, she made her way upstairs and - for the first time in 5 years - she locks her door.

_Just to be sure._

…

Beck busily scrams through his locker when he suddenly sees a figure appearing behind him out of the corner of his eye. He cranes his neck and – much to his surprise – finds big black boots, one of them tapping impatiently on the floor and he knows exactly who it is. He looks up from his position on the ground and blue eyes meet his brown ones.

"Hey…"

She doesn't answer him so he stands up and scans her face, noticing the tense frown and the way the corners of her mouth are drawn down. It's not exactly an unusual look for her but given the fact that she's standing in front of _him_ of all people, with her stormy blue eyes piercing through his, Beck immediately knows something's up.

"Jade?"

"I need to talk to you." She doesn't give him a chance to say something as she grabs his arm and drags him into the janitor's closet. She releases him as soon as she closes the door behind them, leaning on it with her eyes closed, and draws in a breath. Beck furrows his eyebrows in confusion and takes a step closer to his ex-girlfriend. "Are you okay?"

Beck's voice makes her eyes snap open and she looks at him, seeing his face crunched up in worry and confusion. She inhales deeply and holds the air in her lungs for a second, before puffing it out.

"Aiden's here."

Beck stills and looks at her with his mouth slightly open, brows crunched together, his dark eyes narrowing into thin slits. "What? What is he doing here?"

Jade sighs and turns away from him, swinging her arms into the air. "I don't know! I came home and he was there! He told us that he took a couple of days off from college before his exams. _Who_ the hell can just take a couple of days off from college? I mean…ugh!"

She paces around the tiny space of the closet, but stops immediately when Beck holds her in place by her arms. He knows everything about Aiden. Jade had told him the stories about Melissa and Anna, everything she saw when she was little. And he believed her. Of course he did. Jade trusted him and she still does, which is why she is coming to him now.

"Calm down." He pauses for a moment before carefully looking at Jade. "He didn't do something to you…did he?" Jade closes her eyes and sighs, shaking her head. "No, of course not. You know he wouldn't do that."

"Right," Beck mumbles as he nods his head. He looks back at the black haired girl in front of him, whose eyes were fixed on the big trashcan on their left. She's gnawing at her lip and he rubs her arms in an effort to calm her down. He doesn't really understand why she's so worked up about this though, so he decides to question her, his soothing voice bringing Jade's attention back to him. "Hey. Don't worry so much. He'll be gone again before you know it. Why are you so upset?"

Jade looks at him carefully. Should she tell him? She doesn't want to hurt him in any way, after all, she still cares about him deeply. This is the first real conversation that they had in a long time and she worries that this will ruin it again. She sees his eyes encouraging her so she takes a deep breath and just comes out with it. "I'm worried about Tori."

His hands fall from her arms at the mention of Jade's girlfriend and she hears him inhale deeply as his eyes look away from her. "You're scared he might do something to her?"

She waits for him to look back at her and then nods. Beck sighs and rubs a hand over his face. "But…she's your girlfriend, Jade. Why would he do something to her? He didn't hurt me when we were dating. Quite the opposite."

"Well, first of all: you're a guy. His…_victims_," she nearly chokes on the word, "were always girls. And I don't trust him, Beck. You _know_ that when he was still living with me, I didn't bring friends with me. Only Cat, but just because I knew that he wouldn't do anything. With Tori… I'm just not so sure." Jade watches him nod and run a hand through his hair. "I'm scared for her, Beck."

The tone of her voice brings his eyes back to her and he could see the fear and distress in her bright eyes. He bites his lip and sighs deeply, putting his hands back to her arms. He's silent for a moment, searching her eyes before he begins to speak. "Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen to her, okay?"

Jade carefully nods, trying her best to believe Beck's words and feeling instantly calmer. At least for the moment. Beck smiles at her and releases her arms. "Good. Now come on, we don't wanna be late, do we?"

…

Brown eyes curiously watch as Beck and Jade arrive at Sikowitz's classroom. _Together_. They exchange a look and Jade even sends him a small smile before they separate, Jade walking over to the curious brunette, shooting her a smile and taking a seat beside her.

"Am I dreaming?"

Jade cocks a pierced eyebrow at Tori, who looks at her full of wonder. "What are you talking about?"

"You and Beck. You…were coming together. And you _smiled _at him." Tori feigns a gasp and mockingly holds a hand over her heart. Jade just rolls her eyes and smiles, tapping Tori's nose. "So? Are you jealous?"

Tori smiles cutely and raises her eyebrows. "I don't think I have a reason, do I?" She sees a smile pass over Jade's lips and continues in a more serious voice. "No, seriously. I think it's great that you two get along again. Although your…_reconciliation_ comes a bit sudden."

Jade lets out a small laugh. "Reconciliation? You make it sound like we were at war with each other."

The brunette laughs and grabs Jade's hand to lock their fingers together. Tori watches the smile slowly slip from her girlfriend's face and notices the way she intently looks at their intertwined hands, a frown taking over Tori's features. "Hey, are you okay?"

Jade raises her head and looks into Tori's eyes, noticing the concern written on her face.

_No, I'm not okay. I'm probably overreacting but I'm scared for your life because my brother is a fucking killer and his specialty is murdering pretty young girls like you._

Jade slowly smiles and shakes her head. Of course she wouldn't tell her _that._ She'll just not mention Aiden. That's probably the best thing she can do. Because if she would tell Tori that her brother was here, chances are high that Tori would _insist_ on meeting him. But Jade won't let that happen. She just _wouldn't._

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a little tired. I didn't sleep very well last night."

It wasn't completely a lie. She really didn't get much sleep, spending the night rolling around in bed, listening for the slightest noise and thinking about Tori.

Tori seems to be satisfied with the answer, much to the relief of Jade, and smiles at her. They sit there, talking to each other until Sikowitz comes barging through the door.

_Finally,_ Jade thinks as she straightens up in her seat,_ something that can take my mind off of Aiden. At least for a little while._

…

"Hey girls!"

Andre's voice interrupts their conversation as he sits down besides Jade, busying himself with arranging his keyboard on the table. Beck slowly sits down next to Tori, shooting Jade a questioning look, silently asking if she was okay. The smile Jade gives him reassures him and he takes a bite out of his sandwich.

"Hey!" Tori says cheerfully, smiling at both Beck and Andre before her attention shifts back to Jade. "So? What do you think?" Jade bites her lip. Before Andre and Beck showed up, Tori suggested for the two of them to go to Nozu's after school. As much as she wanted to spend her time with Tori, she really couldn't blow off Aiden again today. He already wanted to spend time with her yesterday and if she would cancel today too, he would want to know why. She couldn't risk that. Jade slowly shakes her head.

"No, I…I can't today."

Tori shoots her a suspicious look but doesn't say anything. "Okay. Some other time then."

Just then, Cat comes skipping to their table, Robbie not far behind her. Squeezing herself between Andre and Jade, Cat smiles brightly at the dark haired girl next to her. "Hey! Say, why didn't you tell me that Aiden would come home, Jade?"

Her heart almost stops and her eyes snap over to Beck, whose eyes had noticeably widened as he rests his chin in his hand, before they settle on Cat. "W-what? How…how do you know he's home?"

_Shit. _

Thanks to Cat, her plan not to tell Tori about Aiden was flushed down the toilet. As Cat smiles innocently and plays with a strand of her bright red hair, Jade resists the urge to slap her best friend right across the face. "Oh, your mom called my mom yesterday and told her that Aiden came home yesterday."

"Who's Aiden?" Jade's heart speeds up when she hears Tori speak up beside her and she reluctantly shifts her eyes over to her. She opens her mouth but Cat beats her to it. "Oh! He's Jade's brother! You know, the one who goes to college?"

"I don't think it's necessary to point out that he's _the one_ going to college, Cat_, _seeing that I only _have_ one brother." Jade hisses and Cat slightly shrinks back. Jade feels a hand on her shoulder and turns her head towards a frowning Tori. "Hey hey, relax. Cat just wanted to be helpful."

_Yeah, that was really helpful. _Nevertheless, Jade feels bad for lashing out at Cat. But instead of apologizing, Jade just shrugs and scoffs, mumbling a quick "Whatever."

Tori smiles apologetically at Cat and brushes her hand down Jade's back, rubbing up and down, the frown still present on the paler girl's face. An idea suddenly pops into Tori's head and a smile brightens her features. "Hey Jade? How long is your brother staying here?" Jade looks up from her lunch and warily looks at Tori. "Why?"

Tori shrugs. "Well, you never really talked much about him and I would really like to meet him." Jade sits up straight and grits her teeth together, a muscle twitching in her jaw.

"No."

Tori furrows her eyebrows and smiles confusedly. "No?"

"You're not going to meet him." The smile slips from the brunette's face and she looks around the table, their friends silently watching them. Tori shifts her eyes back to Jade who is frowning hard, her fork forcefully picking into her salad.

"But-"

"Tori!" Jade interrupts her loudly, her eyes snapping to her and Tori wonders why she is so angry all of sudden. "You are not going to meet him, understood?" She doesn't wait for an answer. Instead, she swings her bag over her shoulder and angrily stomps into the building, leaving Tori and her confused friends behind.


	3. Chapter 2

She didn't know that it was such a big deal for her.

She just wants to _meet_ her brother, what does she think will happen? Sometimes Tori really doesn't understand Jade. _How_ can a person go from being nice and sweet to mean and closed off in just a matter of seconds? Jade hadn't said one whole sentence to her after the lunch incident and had been trying to avoid her as best as she could. Tori didn't mention Jade's brother anymore, however, now as the last bell of the day sounds, she would get to the bottom of it.

"Jade, wait."

Tori hurries to get up from her seat when she sees her girlfriend already being halfway out of the door. Jade slowly turns around, bag slung over her shoulder and fixes her hard eyes on Tori. She watches as Tori steps closer to her and they wait until the remaining students exit the classroom. An impatient sigh escapes the pale girl's mouth. "What do you want, Tori?"

Tori's eyebrows draw down as she questioningly looks at Jade. "Why are you like that all of sudden? Just because I want to meet your brother? That's no reason to be so bitchy to me."

Jade stares at her for a moment before she breathes out a sigh, her face completely losing the frown. "I didn't mean to be rude to you. I'm sorry."

Tori closes her eyes and sighs, opening them shortly after and smiling at her girlfriend. "It's fine. After all, I should already be used to your mood swings." A smirk plays on her lips when she sees the pointed look Jade was giving her and she takes another step forward, taking Jade's hand in hers. Tori looks down at their hands, the smirk slowly fading as a more serious expression takes over her face. "But you know you can always talk to me, right? I mean, there's obviously bugging you more than just your brother and-"

"Tori," Jade interrupts her and squeezes her hand. For a short moment, Tori thinks Jade will get mad at her, but then she sees a slight smile creeping up on her face. Jade looks at her feet and sighs, then looks up again. "There is nothing for you to worry about, I _promise_. I just…I don't want you to meet my brother."

"Yeah, I get that but wh-"

"I have my reasons for it," Jade says before Tori can finish her sentence. "Please just trust me on this, okay?" The pleading look in Jade's eyes is enough for Tori to drop the subject. At least for now. She nods her head, although still a little suspicious, and smiles. "Okay."

Jade smiles contently and pulls Tori closer to her until their noses are touching. "So. Do you want a ride home? I think it's the least I can do since I already had to cancel our date." Tori grins and her eyes travel from Jade's eyes down to her lips. "Who says it was going to be a date, huh? Maybe I just wanted to grab a bite with my good friend." Jade's mouth falls open and she lets out an unbelieving laugh.

"Good friend?" She steps away from Tori and releases her hand, turning around and making her way to the door. "Well, I have to disappoint you there, my _friend._ I only give rides to my girlfriend. And seeing as you _aren't_ my girlfriend…" She looks over her shoulder and winks, before quickly exiting the classroom. Tori laughs and runs after her, grabbing her arm to spin her around and plants her lips on Jade's, both smiling into the kiss.

Tori reluctantly pulls away, arms still tightly wrapped around Jade's neck. "What about now?" she whispers and grins at the smile that is firmly plastered on her girlfriend's face. "Well, I _think_…I can arrange it. I mean, I don't want you idiot to get lost somewhere along the way." Tori smiles and rolls her eyes, letting Jade pull her out into the parking lot.

…

When Jade gets home, she is greeted by Aiden who is in the middle of taking off his jacket. He stops when he sees his sister entering and smiles. "Oh hey, there you are. I was just at the store, running some errands for mom. Thought I could make myself useful while I'm here."

He grins and for a moment, Jade forgets all her worries. She sees her brother, her innocent big brother who couldn't hurt a fly and loves his family. The guy with the _biggest_ heart who would _never_ intentionally hurt people. Who loves her with all that he is and would never lie to her. But it wasn't true, Jade reminds herself again, as much as she wants it to be.

"Jade? You okay?" Aiden's head is tilted and his confused blue eyes are fixed on her, Jade realizing just now that she zoned out. She nods and shoots her brother a wide grin, Aiden not knowing that it was fake. "Good. Now," he exclaimed, slinging an arm over Jade's shoulder and guiding her into the living room, "let's talk a little bit. I haven't seen you in so long!"

Aiden makes her sit on the couch and plops down next to her, looking at her with a smile on his face. Jade sighs and decides to forget everything for a while and to just enjoy this side of her brother.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?"

Aiden shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. How's school?" Jade gives her brother a look and smirks. "How's school? Really now Aiden?" Aiden laughs and Jade smiles and shakes her head, relaxing even more. "School's good. What about you?" He nods and puts his thumb up. "Good, good. Everything's going well." Jade nods and looks at her nails, trying not to get too suspicious about his vague answers about school, when Aiden speaks again. "And how's the love life? I hear you've got a girlfriend. What's her name? Tori?"

Jade's body goes rigid and she looks up at Aiden, her smile fading. "H-how do you know about Tori?" Her stomach ties up in knots and she feels her heart beating so hard that she fears it will jump out of her chest at any moment. He shrugs nonchalantly. "Mom told me yesterday. Must be a very nice girl, mom raved on and on about her. Though I must admit, I was a little bit offended that you didn't tell me about her," he raises his eyebrows at Jade.

"Oh yeah… sorry."

"You're forgiven. Well anyways, then I googled her. Quite a catch there." Aiden smirks and Jade can't help but feel sick, her throat closing in on her.

"You googled her…"

"Yeah. I mean... you know how curious I can get. Mom told me she was at Hollywood Arts too and then I went to your page…what is it called again? The Slap?" He waits for a confirmation and takes in Jade's nod before he continues. "And there I found her. Pretty girl. Very pretty."

Jade warily looks at her brother and leans back on the couch. It's silent for a moment and she watches Aiden furrow his eyebrows before he curiously looks at her. "Maybe you can invite her to dinner or something."

"Why?" She will certainly _not_ invite her over. She isn't insane. She wants to keep her girlfriend, not attend her funeral.

"So I can meet her? I've met Beck too, you know."

_Shit._ What was she supposed to say to him? 'I don't want you to meet Tori because I'm afraid you might kill her?' Yeah, definitely not. She couldn't say the same thing she said to Tori, Aiden wasn't that easy to distract from something when he set his mind to it. Besides, there was still her stupid mother. She would most definetely question why Jade doesn't want Aiden to meet Tori. She must look like a fish, she thinks, as she opens and closes her mouth repeatedly, trying to come up with a reason why Tori couldn't come.

"I don't think she has time," Jade blurts out and mentally slaps herself. What kind of stupid excuse was that? Aiden must be thinking that too because he raises his eyebrows and looks at her weirdly. "I'm sure she can squeeze a dinner with us into her strict schedule, don't you think?"

Jade nervously laughs and stands up from the couch. "I'll make sure to ask her. But I need to go now. I have _tons _of homework."

Aiden nods but still observes her suspiciously. "Okay. Have fun, I guess…"

Jade walks up the stairs and softly closes the door to her room behind her, leaning on it and inhaling deeply. If anything, Jade wishes that her brother would go away again.

Soon.

So she can finally have her life back.

…

The following morning, Beck gets out of his car and pulls out his phone, tapping away on the screen while walking to the entrance of Hollywood Arts. He's startled when someone suddenly grabs his arm and pulls him to a stop. Looking at the person who nearly yanked his arm out, he sees Tori standing in front of him, her wide eyes staring up at him.

He lets out a relieved breath. "God, Tori! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Tori smiles sheepishly and lets go of Beck's arm, smoothing down the fabric of his shirt. "Sorry," she mumbles, biting her lip. Beck sighs. "What's up?" He watches her shift from one foot to the other.

"I need to talk to you…a-about Jade…"

His eyebrows shoot up although he could already guess about what she wanted to talk to him. But it was still weird. The new girlfriend of his ex-girlfriend wants to talk to him about her girlfriend, meaning his ex-girlfriend. It was ridiculous and he nearly lets out a laugh, but stops himself. He gives her an encouraging look and Tori takes a deep breath.

"Have you ever met Jade's brother?"

"Why do you want to know?"

Tori blinks and looks at Beck suspiciously, noticing how panicky his voice sounds as he tries to avoid to answer the question directly. "Well…Jade just seems…so _against_ it that I meet her brother and…I wondered if it was the same with you."

Beck inhales deeply and runs a hand through his hair. "Tori, listen. If Jade doesn't want you to meet her brother, then I'm sure that she has good reasons for it." Tori stares at him and Beck stuffs his hands into his pockets, his eyes finding his shoes, getting uncomfortable under the hard stare of Tori. She sure has picked that up from Jade. "Beck…have you _met_ Jade's brother?"

He looks back up at Tori and after a moment of silence between them, he answers her. "Yes, I have."

"And?"

"And what?"

"How is he? What kind of guy is he?"

Beck sighs and rubs a hand over his face, tiredly looking at Tori. "He's…okay, I guess." He really doesn't know what to say to her now. He couldn't say that he was awful because he was really not. Not to him, not to Jade. But that doesn't really make up for the fact that he's a psycho killer.

"Okay?"

"What do you want me to tell you, huh? That he's an asshole or that he and Jade hate each other? They don't and he's a…n-nice guy. But Tori, listen to me," He steps closer to her and fixes his eyes on hers, making sure that she is listening to him. "Please don't hang yourself up on the fact that Jade doesn't want you to meet Aiden. I assure you that it has nothing, absolutely_ nothing_ to do with you. Jade, she…she loves you. And she only wants what's best for you so just _listen_ to her, okay?"

Tori sees the urgency in his eyes and contemplates to question it, but decides against it. She nods carefully, although still confused about both Beck and Jade's behavior. "Okay. I'll listen to her."

Beck smiles and steps away from her, not saying another word as he makes his way into the building, leaving Tori standing alone in the parking lot.

…

_Tori asked about Aiden. Told her to listen to you._

Jade sighs as she reads the text message from Beck and quickly types in a _Thanks, Beck_ before putting her phone back into her pocket. She knew Tori wouldn't give up that easily. If there was one thing Tori hated, it was not knowing things. She absolutely _hated_ to be left out and wouldn't stop digging until she found out about it. And Jade worries that Tori won't stop to play detective this time either.

Someone touches her arm and she jumps slightly, immediately relaxing though as she sees Beck standing in front of her, a deep frown on his face. "Sorry, I didn't want to scare you."

Jade shakes her head and closes her eyes before opening them again to look at Beck. "No no. You didn't scare me. It's alright." She watches as Beck throws a look over his shoulder, probably looking for any sign of Tori, before he turns back to her. "Do you know what you're going to do about Tori?"

Jade purses her lips, looks past Beck and then grabs his wrist, dragging him across the hall and into the empty music room. She softly closes the door behind them and bites her lip while looking at Beck. "What did she exactly ask you?"

"Just…if I had met Aiden. And what kind of guy he was."

"And what did you say?"

"That, yes, I had met him and that he was okay. I think I said he was a nice guy."

Jade nods and thinks for a moment. "Nothing else?" Beck shakes his head. "No, nothing. But I'm sure she would have asked me more, if I hadn't stopped her." Beck watches as Jade runs a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath while pacing back and forth. "Jade." At the sound of her name, Jade stops and looks at Beck.

"Honestly, I don't think Tori will stop until she meets Aiden. You know how she is." Jade nods and crosses her arms over her chest. "I know. But what am I supposed to do, Beck? Should I say: No Tor, I don't think it's a good idea if you and Aiden meet because, you know, chances are high that he will _kill_ you!"

Beck sighs and massages the bridge of his nose. He really doesn't know what to do either. Jade had every right to be scared for Tori although Beck wouldn't tell her that. It's not exactly safe to have a killer in the family. If she really is so worried about Tori meeting Aiden… Beck surely isn't thrilled that Tori and Jade are dating but he would never want something to happen to Tori. "Well…maybe you should try to talk to her again. Make it clear to her that you don't want her… sniffing around."

"Yeah…I suppose that's the only thing I can do, hm?" She takes in Beck's nod and smiles. "Thanks Beck. I really mean that. I owe you."

"No,no,no. You don't owe me. I…I just want you to…be happy, you know? That's all I want."

Jade smiles and acts on impulse, wrapping her arms around Beck and resting her head on his shoulder. She feels hesitant arms wrap themselves around her frame and softly smiles. It was a foreign but still so familiar feeling being so close to Beck. She misses him. His calming nature, his bright smile, his twinkling eyes. Of course she loves Tori but Beck will always be important to her. She really hopes that they could be friends one day.

Their peaceful moment is interrupted when someone bursts through the door. They break apart and see Andre looking at them with wide eyes. "Oh! I'm-I'm really sorry. I…" Jade rolls her eyes at Andre's stammering and crosses her arms. "Relax Andre. We just hugged, it's no big deal."

Andre hesitantly nods and licks his lip. "Yes, of course. I was just…surprised, that's all. Actually, I just…wanted to record a new song, you know."

Jade nods nonchalantly and slowly makes her way to the door. "Yeah, sure. No one's holding you back." She smirks at him amusedly, then exits the room.


	4. Chapter 3

She didn't say much today, Tori notices. Mostly, she just sat there and listened to her, smiling and chuckling at funny parts, agreeing with her on everything else. Now at lunch, Jade says the first full sentence to her since school started.

"We need to talk."

Tori gulps and her eyes slightly widen. Isn't that some kind of code for 'I want to break up with you'? Tori hesitates and tries to mask her nervousness with a smile. "Oh, um…sure. Let's go get lunch." When she tries to walk away, Jade grabs her arm to keep her in place. "No. Come on." She pulls at her arm and Tori hesitantly follows Jade into the janitor's closet. "What are we doing here?" Tori asks nervously and looks around.

Jade's eyebrows crease and she shrugs. "We always come here to talk, don't we?" Tori nods and fiddles with her fingers, getting more nervous with every second passing by. "Well, anyways," Jade says with a sigh, pausing as she takes in Tori's fiddling. "Why are you so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous!"

Jade slightly narrows her eyes. "Okay…So…you talked to Beck, huh?"

Tori's eyes widen for a moment before she clears her throat. "Um…yeah?"

Tori begins fiddling again, having Jade's eyes steadily trained on her. The black haired girl sighs deeply and shakes her head. "Why Tori? I thought I made myself clear yesterday."

"Y-you did but…I don't know! I'm just…confused, I guess. I mean…I've met both of your parents and I just don't understand what's so different with your brother."

_God, she's so persistent._ Jade feels a headache coming up and rubs her forehead while closing her eyes. She loves Tori but she is slowly starting to get on her nerves. Why couldn't she just accept it and move on from the subject?

"There's nothing _different _with my brother, " _Liar. Liar. Liar., _"why can't you just accept the fact that I don't want you to meet Aiden?"

"Well, why don't you just accept the fact that you can _trust_ me and don't need to hide anything from me?"

Jade is slightly taken aback by Tori's snappiness but quickly shakes it off. "I do trust you Tori!" She stops and takes a deep breath to calm herself down. She really doesn't want to start a fight right now. That's the last thing she needs at the moment. "Listen, I don't want to argue with you, okay? But you have to trust me too! Trust goes both ways and I _beg _you to just let it slide. Forget about it. Will you do that for me?"

The pleading look in Jade's blue eyes gets to her and Tori looks at her feet. "Yes."

"For real this time?"

Tori lets out an exasperated sigh and swings her arms into the air, forcing out a tight smile. "Yes! For real. You can _trust_ me." The smile slips and Tori rips the door open, exiting the closet. Jade rolls her eyes and follows Tori, trying to catch up with her. "What, are you mad at me now?"

Tori abruptly stops and Jade nearly runs into her. Tori sighs. "No, I'm not mad." Jade looks at her, unconvinced, and Tori turns fully so that she stands face to face with Jade. "I'm not mad. I promise."

They look at each other, and for a moment, neither one of them says anything. Then, Jade slowly nods. "Okay. Then that's settled." Tori smiles, satisfied that Jade believes her and nudges her arm. "Come on now. I'm starving!"

…

"So…what was that between you and Jade?"

Beck looks up from the sheet of lyrics for Andre's new song and furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Andre shrugs and slightly shifts in his seat as he pushes random keys on the piano in front of him. "Well, it was a little bit strange seeing you two so…cuddly with each other. Especially since Jade is dating Tori." He gives Beck a pointed look and raises his eyebrows. Andre hadn't thought much about it, when Beck and Jade began talking normally to each other again. He still hadn't thought much about it when they actually _smiled_ at each other and Beck didn't try to avoid Tori and Jade like the plague anymore. But running in on them hugging has send his mind reeling. Beck curiously stares at Andre and lets out an amused laugh.

"What? Okay, first of all: we weren't _cuddly_ with each other. We hugged. It's not a big deal. And secondly…do you really think Jade would cheat on Tori with me?"

Andre scans his face and finally sighs. "No. No, I don't. But I mean…you have to admit, it's kinda weird that you hugged."

"Weird?" Beck laughs and leans forward, "It's not weird. You should be happy that we aren't fighting all the time." Beck stands up and swings his backpack over his shoulder, ready to go, when Andre's quiet voice makes him stop.

"I know you still love her, Beck."

He halts, frozen on the spot and slowly turns back around to see his best friend looking at him. Andre smiles sympathetically at him and he wonders if his feelings for Jade still were so obvious to everyone. "It doesn't matter if I love her or not. She chose Tori and I…I just have to deal with that." He watches Andre nod and look away and adds "But if there is a possibility to keep Jade in my life…as a friend…then of course I'm going to do anything to make that happen. And that hug that you saw…was hopefully the first step for us. For our friendship."

He smiles and leaves then and Andre turns back to the piano, his worries soothed.

…

Three days pass and Tori finally seems to have given up on convincing Jade to let her meet Aiden. She hadn't mentioned him again and everything went back to normal for Jade and Tori. Aiden himself hadn't been home much. When Jade came home after school, he was either gone or was just about to go out. He would be away the whole day and only came back in the late evenings but Jade knew better not to question his whereabouts. The less she knew the better.

It's Saturday today and Jade goes over to Cat's house, having to write and rehearse a scene for Sikowitz's class.

"Okay, so what if my character has a…" Cat makes a dramatic pause, widely smiling at Jade who sits across from her, "_giraffe_ as a pet!" Jade narrows her eyes and watches as the redhead giggles wildly and bounces up and down.

"Cat?"

"What?"

"That's stupid."

Cat stops bouncing and gasps. "Phooey! I just wanted Mr. Longneck to have a part in our scene!"

Cat grabs the stuffed giraffe and lets it dance in front of Jade's face, a pout gracing her features. "Well, too bad," Jade states with raised eyebrows, grabbing the stuffed animal from Cat's hand and throwing it onto the bed, "Mr. Longneck will just have to watch."

A quiet 'beep' sounds and Cat confusedly looks around. "What's that?" Jade furrows her eyebrows and pulls her phone out of her jeans pocket, informing her that the battery was low. "Oh, it's just my phone. Low battery." She turns it off and shifts her attention back to Cat. "Come on, let's finish this."

They resume writing the scene, Jade not knowing what else the day would bring for her.

…

It's early evening when Jade comes home, the sun slightly coloring the sky in orange as she walks through the front door of her house. She lets out a relieved breath. It had taken them forever to write the scene. Cat's brother had interrupted them several times and Jade had nearly pulled her hair out in frustration. But eventually they finished and, in Jade's opinion, had created a pretty decent storyline.

"Hey baby sister."

Jade quickly turns around to find a grinning Aiden looking at her. She breathes out a laugh and pushes her hair out of her face. "Hey." He steps closer and tilts his head. "How's our little redhead doing?"

"She's fine. Asked about you too."

"That's good to hear," Aiden says and softly grabs Jade by her shoulders, steering her into the kitchen. "I have a little surprise for you," he sing-songs in her ear and Jade creases her eyebrows and smiles. "Surprise? What surpr-"

The smile slips from her face and she abruptly halts, causing Aiden to run into her. She feels her heart speed up at the sight in front of her and feels Aiden take his hands from her shoulders.

"Tori…"

She sits at the kitchen table with Jade's mom, nervously smiling up at Jade. "Hey Jade."

Jade almost feels angry. How stubborn could a person be? She really believed Tori when she said that she would forget about Aiden. But obviously, that was a big, fat lie. "What are you doing here?" Jade says with a smile but Tori could sense that Jade really didn't feel like smiling right now.

"I invited her over," Jade's mom speaks up from her place at the kitchen table, "I thought she and Aiden should meet."

God, how she wishes she could slap her mother right now. Jade bites her teeth together and sees Tori eying her carefully. She looks over to Aiden who has a smile plastered on his face. "So? Good surprise?"

"Yeah, really great," Jade smiles and locks her eyes with Tori's. "Tori? Can I talk to you for a second?" She flicks her head, motioning to the living room and Tori nervously scrambles to her feet. "Yeah, sure, of course."

Jade lets Tori walk into the living room and closes the door behind her before beginning to talk. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she harshly whispers and Tori flinches a little.

"Your mom invited me and I tried calling you to ask if it was okay for me to come over but you didn't answer your phone!"

"That's because my battery is empty!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know that?"

Jade closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. It's too late now anyways. Tori was here, she couldn't just…tell her to leave again. "You thought I came here against your will just to see your brother, didn't you?"

Tori's quiet voice makes her eyes open again and Jade sees the slight hurt on Tori's face. She sighs and shakes her head. "No. No Tori, I didn't think that." Lie. Of course she thought that when she had seen Tori sitting in the kitchen. Jade lifts Tori's chin up before taking her face into her hands. "I love you, okay?" The words surprise Tori a bit, seeing as they come out at such a random time, but she smiles at her girlfriend. "I love you too."

Jade smiles and lets her hands fall from her face before pulling her back into the kitchen. Jade's mom wasn't sitting at the kitchen table anymore and Aiden stands at the kitchen counter, chopping vegetables. Tori feels Jade squeeze her hand a little tighter and Tori absentmindedly wonders if her hand could go numb because of Jade's tightening grip.

"Where's mom?" Aiden turns around, his hand still gripping the knife and Jade tenses. "Oh, she's in the dining room. Setting the table." He turns fully now and rests the tip of the blade on the kitchen island, slightly twirling the knife. "So Tori, how did you and Jade become a couple?"

Jade's eyes are fixed on the knife in his hand as she feels Tori pull her closer to Aiden. "Oh, you know. It kind of just happened. There's not really an overly romantic story behind it." Aiden smirks and slowly nods his head, still twirling the knife in his hand. He reminds her a lot of Jade. His bright eyes, the smirk, the way he would raise his eyebrow…they share so many mannerisms. As her eyes fall onto the knife in Aiden's hand, Tori smiles, being reminded of Jade's scissor obsession. "Do you have a weird obsession too? Like Jade with scissors?"

Tori shoots Jade a smirk and Jade manages a smile. Aiden chuckles and looks at the knife in his hand. He lifts it up and runs a finger over the sharp blade. "Nah, not really. Although I really like…how do I put it…_working _with knives." There is a short pause, Tori raising her eyebrows curiously and Jade nearly dying inside. "I love to cook."

He smiles and winks at Tori and she just laughs but Jade swallows hardly, trying to calm her pounding heart. _Don't freak out, Jade. It was just a joke. _Jade presses her fingernails into the hand that was not holding Tori's. _Bullshit! Who makes jokes like that? _

"Well," Aiden speaks up, "why don't you go and help mom set the table, Jade? Dinner's ready in like…10 minutes."

Jade reluctantly nods and drags Tori with her, the brunette completely oblivious to the fear that is settling in Jade's body.

…

The dinner was pure torture for Jade.

Aiden hadn't shut up for one second, constantly asking Tori questions and Tori wasn't even suspicious in the slightest as to why he was so interested in her. Everything she thought was that Jade's brother was _such _a nice guy. But Jade didn't trust his friendliness. She couldn't quite describe it but she didn't think this meant anything good.

"It was _very_ nice to meet you, Tori," Aiden smirks and softly shakes her hand. "Yes, it really was," Tori smiles, this innocent, _beautiful_ smile and Jade just wants to rip her brother's hand off of Tori.

"Come on, I bring you to your mom's car." Jade leads her out of the door, throwing one last look at her smiling brother who gives her a wink and softly closes the door behind them. Tori's mom isn't there yet and Tori turns around to face her girlfriend, a soft smile playing on her lips. "I think your brother is really nice. I don't understand why you were so persistent that I don't meet him."

"Let's not talk about it, okay?"

Tori furrows her eyebrows and looks at her weirdly, slightly nodding her head. "Okay…" Tori looks at her concerned, noticing the way Jade avoids eye contact and how tightly she had her arms wrapped around herself. A smile suddenly brightens up her features as she steps closer to Jade, burying her hands into her black hair and pulling her in for a deep kiss.

Jade lifts her eyebrows, surprised at Tori's bold action, but soon melts into the kiss and grabs Tori's hips, pulling her closer to her. After a few seconds, Tori pulls away and rubs her nose against Jade's. Jade takes a step back and shakes her head, still having a firm grip on the other girl's hips. "You're such a cheesy, cheesy person, Vega."

Tori laughs loudly. "And you're such a moment ruiner."

A car horn pulls them out of their own little world and their heads snap to the car parked in front of the West house, Tori's mom smiling and waving at them. Jade waves back and turns to Tori. "You have to go now." Tori nods and kisses Jade on the cheek, getting into her mom's car and waving at her girlfriend one last time.

Jade watches the car disappear and the smile on her face fades. Now that Aiden had met Tori, Jade has to make sure Tori is protected. She needs to make sure she's safe, she wouldn't let anything happen to her.

It doesn't matter what she has to do to keep her safe.


	5. Chapter 4

A loud sigh escapes her mouth as she stares up at the ceiling. She doesn't know how long she had been lying here like that. She surely didn't get much sleep, her thoughts too occupied with Tori and Aiden, with horrible scenarios playing over and over in her head. She slowly gets up, pausing to look at the clock – 8.15 – and then trudges down into the kitchen.

She rolls her eyes when she sees Aiden already bustling around at the stove and wants to just go back up into her room, when Aiden turns around and a smile breaks out onto his face. "Good morning!"

His cheerful attitude nearly sickens her and she curtly nods at him, walking past him to pour herself a fresh cup of coffee. Aiden's smile slips and he creases his eyebrows together. "Didn't sleep well?"

After adding two sugars and stirring her coffee, Jade takes a large gulp, feeling the hot liquid burning her throat and she glares at her brother as she sits down on one of the kitchen chairs. "None of your business." Jade looks at him and she swears she sees hurt flash across his eyes before he averts them. She hears him mumble an apology and for a short moment, she feels bad for hurting him. But then Jade remembers that he is the reason she is the way she is, he is the reason that she feels like she would never be able to live a normal life. So why shouldn't she show him how she really was to everyone else? She would show him what kind of person she really is.

Aiden moves to sit down across from her and they sit in a long silence, the older West sibling occasionally looking up at Jade. Finally he clears his throat and begins to talk in a low, soft voice. "So…what are your plans for today?" Jade ignores him and takes another sip from her cup. Aiden clears his throat again and smiles. "Meeting up with Tori?"

Jade slams her cup down onto the table, a few drops of coffee spilling over, and narrows her eyes at her brother. "_Why_ do you want to know?" Aiden shrinks back a little bit and furrows his eyebrows. "I just…I don't know." Jade grits her teeth and Aiden eyes her curiously. "What's the matter?"

His soft voice makes her look up. He looks at her, his face full of concern, his eyebrows drawn together and his mouth set in a thin line. Jade stands up and takes her coffee with her. "Nothing, just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you."

Aiden watches her leave, confusion written all over his face. He stands back up again, a sigh getting past his lips as he gets back to making his breakfast. His head though, is with Jade, racking his brain for something he had done wrong for her to be so grumpy.

…

Jade stayed in her room for the remainder of the morning, really not wanting to have to deal with her brother. Now, she's in the shower, enjoying the way the hot water hits her skin. Still, she can't get her brother out of her system. He makes it so hard for her. He can be one of the sweetest people and Jade knows that he loves her to death. Jade is 100 % sure that he would never hurt her in any way. If anything could be said about him, it was that he loves his family.

_But maybe that's the problem._

Jade stops rinsing the shampoo out of her hair and snaps her eyes open. Maybe that's the problem? Where did that come from? She stands motionless under the shower head, the water streaming down her body as an absurd thought crosses her mind. Every girl that Aiden had killed in the past has been somehow connected to her. Was that just a coincidence or was there more to it?

_He loves me to death._

Jade shivers, despite the hot water beating down on her, and feels a sickening feeling arising in her stomach. Was _she_ the reason why Aiden killed these girls? Maybe he was jealous…but then again, he never ever laid a finger on Beck when they were dating (thank God for that). But Jade couldn't shake this cruel feeling that is steadily piling up inside of her, eating at her, making her feel guilty for the deaths her brother had caused. _God dammit, why do _you_ feel guilty, Jade?_ A voice inside her head tries to reason with her but Jade doesn't listen. Instead, she turns the shower off and steps out, tightly wrapping a towel around her body.

She knows it's stupid to jump to conclusions, but it's not like she has the option to just _ask_ Aiden about it. She couldn't take any chances. If she really was the reason for everything that happened in the past…then she knows exactly what to do to protect Tori.

…

She'll do just that – protect Tori – right now. She's standing in front of the front door of the Vega household, hesitant to ring the doorbell. She swallows the lump in her throat and closes her eyes, breathing in the fresh air of a lazy Sunday evening. Finally, she plucks up the courage and pushes the button, anxiously shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

The door swings open and Mrs. Vega stands in front of her. "Oh, hi Jade," she smiles and opens the door a little wider, "come on in." Jade smiles at her in thanks and enters the house, seeing that the Vega family had just finished dinner. Tori turns around from her place in the kitchen and smiles at her. "Hey you. What are you doing here?" She skips over to Jade and gives her a kiss but frowns when she notices the uneasy expression on her face. "Is everything okay with you?"

Jade closes her eyes and shakes her head. "No," she opens her eyes again and sees Tori worriedly looking at her, "Tori, can we talk?" Jade feels tears welling up in her eyes and Tori must notice it too because she takes a hold of her arms and leads her in the direction of the stairs. "Yes. Let's go up to my room."

By the time they arrive in Tori's room and Tori softly closes the door behind them, Jade bites her bottom lip so hard that she feels the skin breaking. She's facing away from Tori and feels the brunette's hand on her shoulder. "Jade?" She doesn't answer her and squeezes her eyes shut to prevent the tears from escaping. "Jade, you're scaring me. What is wrong? Talk to me."

Jade takes in a shaky breath and turns to face Tori. A frown has taken hold of her beautiful face and she looks so _worried_ that Jade just wants to hug her and tell her that everything's fine. But she couldn't do that. It's too late to go back now. "Tori…" Jade shrugs the brunette's hands off and takes a couple of steps back, creating a distance between them that Jade desperately needed.

"What?"

God, she has to get a grip of herself. She couldn't wail like a baby. It would just make everything unbelievable. Jade takes another deep breath and puts on a hard face. She looks at Tori, managing to swallow down her tears, and feels her heart speed up. "Jade, what is going on? I really don't under-"

"I want to break up with you."

Tori stops her movements and stares at Jade. She surely must have misheard. Right? There is silence for a long time, both girls just staring at each other. "Wh-What did you say?"

Jade feels her heart crack at the sound of Tori's voice, so confused, so _hurt_. But she couldn't stop now. She had to do it. "I want to break up with you."

Tori's eyes widen and she looks at Jade, shaking her head. "Don't joke with something like that, Jade. It's not funny." Jade sighs and rubs her hands over her face before she tiredly looks at Tori. "It's not a joke, Tori." Tori's eyes start to water and she hesitantly takes a small step closer to Jade. "But…but I don't understand! Why? Did-did I do something wrong?"

"No. You didn't do anything wrong. Not at all." Jade couldn't even believe the hatred she felt for herself right now. How could she do that to her?_ It's for the best. Remember that, Jade. You're only protecting her._ Jade clears her throat and hopes that her acting will be good enough. "I just…I've realized that my feelings for you…" She trails off and shakes her head. Tori creases her eyebrows, tears running down her cheeks, and takes another step towards Jade. "What? What about your feelings? Tell me!"

"I don't want to hurt you, Tori, I really, really don't. But…" Jade is surprised that she's able to keep so cool when Tori stands in front of her, crying and pleading with her eyes. If only she would be able to shake those terrible feelings inside of her, too. She takes a deep breath and braces herself for what she was about to say. "I realized that I don't really love you. I guess I just wanted to…experiment. I'm so sorry that I have to hurt you but…I don't want you to be in a relationship where you are the only dedicated one."

_Just kill me. What am I doing here?_

Her mouth falls open and she lightly gasps. "E-Experiment? You wanted to _experiment_?" Jade doesn't say anything. She looks at the ground and tries to hide the hurt in her own eyes. "I don't…I really can't believe you, Jade!" Tori's yelling now and Jade crosses her arms over her chest. "You're lying! Why are you lying to me? Just yesterday, you told me you _loved _me! What the fuck is wrong with you?" She's breathing heavily and stands directly in front of Jade, tears still running down her face, anger, hurt and confusion all mixed together in her brown eyes. Jade swallows and looks at her with cold eyes.

"I think I should better go now."

Jade makes her way to the door, but stops when she hears Tori's voice again. "So that's it? You really mean it? It's over, just like that?" Her tone softens with every word she says until it completely breaks. Jade closes her eyes, not turning back around as she says "Yes. Just like that. I'm sorry." She leaves then, Tori watching her go and only when she hears the front door shutting and every chance of Jade coming back to tell her that she didn't mean it gone, Tori allows a sob to escape and lets herself fall to her knees.

…

She barely sees the road due to the tears clouding and practically blocking her vision and when she finally parks the car in front of her house, she's actually surprised that she hadn't killed herself on the way home.

Jade turns off the engine, the silence getting the best of her and she finally allows herself to let her tears fall. She bites her lip, trying to stop herself from sobbing and grips the steering wheel just a little bit tighter. She just sits there for a while and it feels like hours had passed when she finally wipes at her eyes and takes in a deep shaky breath to calm herself down.

_It was for the best._

She gets out of her car, the occasional tear still dripping down her face, and shakily fishes her keys out of her bag. All the lights are out when Jade finally manages to open the front door, and she's thankful for it. At least she doesn't have to face anyone today anymore. Jade doesn't bother switching on the lights and slowly stumbles up the stairs, a feeling like she is drunk overwhelming her senses. She trips several times, her head feeling so dizzy and she doesn't even know why. When she finally gets to her room, she crawls onto her bed and closes her eyes, resting her head against the headboard. Tori's face appears in her mind, and it didn't matter if she had her eyes closed or not, it wouldn't go away.

"Jade?"

The hesitant voice of her brother catches her attention and she quickly wipes away her tears, the realization that she didn't close her door hitting her. Aiden stands in the middle of her door and even in the darkness she can see that his eyebrows are drawn down, the concern clearly apparent in both his voice and face.

"I heard you fall, are you alright?"

He comes closer and switches the light on, the brightness burning Jade's eyes and just now, Aiden notices the tears on his sister's face. "Are you crying? What happened? Did you hurt yourself?"

He rushes to Jade's side, sitting down in front of her and touches her knee. "Jade, what's wrong?" Jade looks at her brother through her swollen eyes and wants to hit him, yell at him that everything is his fault and that he should stop looking so _damn_ concerned for her. But she doesn't and instead turns her head away from him, shaking it and pursing her lips. "I'm not hurt. Go away now."

"What else is wrong then? You don't mean to tell me that you just felt like crying, do you? You know you can talk to me."

Jade tightly shuts her eyes and grinds her teeth together. "I _said_: Go. Away. I don't want to talk to you, Aiden." He doesn't move, his hand still positioned on her knee. "Why are you like that to me, Jade?" His soft and hurt voice almost gets the best of her, and she opens her eyes but still keeps them steadily fixed on the wall across from her. "Did I do something wrong? If I did, then you can tell me." Jade doesn't answer him and after a long moment of uncomfortable silence, Aiden opens his mouth again. "Did you have a fight with Tori?"

The mention of Tori makes her eyes snap over to him and she gives him a hard glare. "_Stop_ talking about Tori! Just…stop!" Aiden shifts closer, the glare of Jade not really affecting him. "So it _is_ about Tori." Jade feels tears welling up in her eyes and turns away again, mumbling for Aiden to get out of her room. "What did you fight about? Maybe I can help you to-"

"We broke up, Aiden! That's what happened, okay?" She can't take it anymore and the tears that she so desperately tried to hold back, spill over. She slowly shakes her head and when she next speaks, her voice is small, cracking with every word she says. "Go, please." But Aiden doesn't listen to her. He shifts on the bed, so that he sits next to Jade and gathers his sister in a tight hug, stroking her head and mumbling calming words to her. Jade wants to push him away, tell him to back off, but she can't. She's too tired, too exhausted to do anything, so she buries her face into his chest and cries until sleep overcomes her.

* * *

_A/N: So sorry. I had to break them up. But one thing I can promise you: Jade will regret it. Big time. _


	6. Chapter 5

She looks horrible.

Jade carefully splashes some water into her face and wishes that those dark bags under her eyes would disappear. She's in the girls' bathroom at school, trying to make herself look a little less like a resurrected corpse. She hadn't seen Tori yet and she was glad for that, because she doesn't know how to handle her. Although she had to face her sooner or later, she preferred to wait till much, _much _later.

Jade sees Cat coming through the door, a bright smile glowing on her face. "Hi, Jade!" The redhead applies a thin layer of lip gloss to her lips and looks at Jade through the mirror. "Hi," she mumbles and sees that the smile on Cat's face quickly replaces itself with a pout. "Why do you look so sad?"

Jade tenses. So she doesn't know it yet. Jade looks at Cat and the little redhead turns to Jade, her wide brown eyes showing deep concern for her friend. "Tori and I…," Jade lightly rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, trying to hide the fact that the break up was tearing her heart out. "We broke up." Cat gasps loudly and takes her head into her hands. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry! What happened?"

Jade shakes her head when she feels tears in her eyes and storms past Cat, mumbling that she had to get to class and leaves a confused Cat behind.

…

Jade had done a good job in avoiding all of her friends. She hadn't eaten with them at lunch, instead, she sat alone in the black box theater. But she hadn't seen Tori all day. Jade didn't blame her. She would have rather stayed home too.

School's over and she slowly makes her way to her car, playing with her car keys when she suddenly runs into someone. She looks up, trying to muster up her fiercest glare but when she sees that the person is Beck she relaxes a bit. He softly smiles at her and Jade frowns. "What do you want?"

"I heard about you and Tori. I'm really sorry."

Jade scoffs and pushes past him. "Oh, are you really? I'm sure you're dancing with joy on the inside." She halts and closes her eyes, immediately regretting what she said. Of course she knows that Beck still has some feelings for her. It wasn't right to step on them like that. "I'm sorry, Beck," Jade says as she turns back around, seeing Beck uncomfortably standing there with his hands in his pockets, "That was really stupid."

Beck smiles and steps closer to Jade. "It's okay." He pauses and a crease forms on his forehead. "How are you feeling?" Jade laughs a little and looks around the parking lot. If she is honest, she really doesn't know how she feels at the moment. Probably a little bit of everything mixed up. "I'm not really sure. Not good. But I guess it's better for Tori if she stays away from me."

"Does Aiden know?" Jade nods and sighs. Beck smiles sadly at his ex-girlfriend and touches her upper arm. "If you need someone to talk to or…someone who'll just listen to you…you know I'm here for you." Jade feels a smile creep up on her face, her first smile of today, and nods. "I know that. I'm sure I'll get back to you." Jade waves at him and continues on her way to her car, not aware of the brown eyes that had watched her and Beck.

…

"How are you doing today?"

Jade puts her fork down and closes her eyes, massaging her forehead. She had this headache since she came home from school and no matter what she did, it just wouldn't leave. "Fine." Aiden nods slowly and looks back down at the plate in front of him. Their mother is at work so the two of them were eating dinner alone, sitting in the dining room in utterly silence. Aiden knows he probably won't get a good answer but he tries it nevertheless. "Are you sure?"

Nothing.

Aiden clears his throat and licks his lips, carefully observing his little sister. He can see that the break up hurts her and even though he still doesn't know what had really happened, he really wants to help Jade and Tori. When Tori had been over for dinner he actually got the impression that the two of them were really happy with each other. For them to break up so suddenly was just… weird in his opinion. "Listen Jade," he starts, the eye roll of Jade not going unnoticed by him, "I'm sure you and Tori can work it out again. You love each other, don't you? What happened? Maybe I could give you advice or I could-"

He is startled when Jade's fork loudly clanks onto her plate. "Why can't you just leave me. The Fuck. Alone." Aiden doesn't say anything and Jade stands up, having lost her appetite. She's about to exit the dining room when Aiden's voice stops her. "Okay, that's enough!" He slams his fists down and the table rattles under the force.

Jade turns around, surprised at hearing the loud voice of her brother. He rarely raises his voice, especially not directed to her. He takes three long strides and stands right in front of Jade, who shrinks back a little bit. "I'm not going to tolerate you treating me like this!"

Jade swallows but quickly regains her composure and scoffs at Aiden. "You're not gonna tolerate this, huh? You're not my father, Aiden!" The temperature in the room drops suddenly and Jade feels like they're in the Antarctica, the heavy air nearly crushing her. Aiden's eyes are wild when he looks at her. "What has gotten into you? I did _nothing_ to you but you still treat me like a piece of shit! You never did that!"

Jade glares at him and quickly walks out and into the hallway, ready to climb up the stairs when she feels a hand grabbing her arm. Aiden pulls her back and Jade suddenly feels afraid of her brother. "You know, maybe it's good that you and Tori broke up," Aiden seethes, a deep scowl on his face, "she seems to change you and I don't like that." Jade bites down on her tongue and rips her arm out of Aiden's hard grip, only now noticing that she's backed against the wall. Aiden glares at her before storming up the stairs, and Jade lets out a relieved breath when she hears the door to his room slam close.

She had never seen Aiden like that. The look in his eyes was so…_crazy_ and for the first time, that look was directed to her. The doorbell brings her back into reality and Jade takes a deep breath before opening the door. Her heart stops when she sees Tori standing in front of her, her brown hair messy and her eyes watery. "Hey…What are you doin-"

"It's because of Beck, isn't it?"

Jade furrows her eyebrows. "W-What?" Tori runs a hand through her hair, an attempt to tame it and sniffles a little. "You broke up with me because you still love Beck." _She thinks I broke up with her for Beck? Where did she get such an idea? _"What? No! Why would you think that?"

"I saw you today, Jade. And Andre told me about your…_friendly _hug!" Jade closes her eyes and sighs. God, this stupid hug. Stupid _Andre_ for making it bigger than it actually was.

"Tori. The hug wasn't meant in a…_romantic_ way. And Andre knows that. Beck and me were talking and just hugged because…because we decided to be civil with each other. Maybe even be friends." _Be civil with each other. Man, I'm such an idiot._ Jade frowns and looks at Tori when a thought crosses her mind. "Wait…where did you see us? You weren't in school today."

Tori bites her lip and hesitates for a second. "I wanted to talk to you and thought…that…I don't know! I just wanted to see you and talk to you and then you were standing there with Beck and I…I…"

_Maybe I should just tell her what she wants to hear. That I want Beck back._

Jade quickly dismisses the thought. She couldn't just drag Beck into this. And she doesn't want to lie to Tori more than she already has.

"Tori," Jade sighs, "there's nothing between Beck and me. He's not the reason for our break up."

"But what is it then?" Tori's voice cracks and tears start to run down her face as she pleadingly looks at Jade. "Please Jade. _Please_ say that it was a joke and that you love me. Please say it."

Jade bites the inside of her lip and fights back tears. All she wants to do right now is to throw her arms around Tori and kiss her, tell her that everything was a stupid lie and that she fucking loves her. So, so much. _But I can't do that,_ she reminds herself.

"No Tori," she swallows hardly at the sob that escapes Tori's mouth. "Please just…just go home and… forget about me. Don't hang yourself up because of me. I'm really not worth it, Tor."

At the sound of her nickname Tori lets out a sob and shakes her head. "But-" Jade stops her by taking her hand in hers. "I'm sorry for hurting you like this. But if we stay together, it'll just be worse for you." And that for once, wasn't a lie. "Go home now," Jade whispers and lets go of her hand, "Bye." Jade closes the door and feels as if her heart has been ripped out, wanting nothing more than to open the door again and comfort Tori.

She rests her back against the door and slides down, crying and sobbing, wondering what she had done to deserve this.

…

"What are you doing?"

Only three days later, Tori corners her again, pushing her into the janitor's closet.

"What do you want?"

Jade mentally kicks herself when she notices how weak her voice sounds. She stands up straighter and crosses her arms to try everything to make it clear to Tori that she doesn't want to be here with her. Tori looks at her determined. "I want to talk to you." They stare at each other, Jade getting ready to object when Tori's hard exterior crumbles, her brown eyes desperate as they look at Jade. "I miss you. Jade, I can't… I can't be without you. Please," she pauses to reach for Jade's hand, but Jade takes a step back. "Please, we can work it out again. I promise."

"Tori, just stop. It's over, you have to accept that."

"I won't," Tori sniffs and shakes her head, the determination in her eyes returning. "I can fight for you, Jade. Is that what you want me to do? Fight for you? Do you… do you want me to prove myself to you?"

Jade desperately wanted to avoid this. But Tori doesn't give her another choice. Jade had to make it clear, she had to _hurt _her to keep her away. As much as that would kill her… it was necessary. She narrows her eyes at Tori, taking one slow step towards her. "You want me to tell you what I want from you? I want you to leave me the hell alone! I don't want you anymore!"

"Jade, you-"

"Don't you get it? I. Don't. Love. You. I _never_… did!" She shakes her head and watches as Tori's eyes fill with tears. _Don't let that stop you. You are protecting her, keep that in mind. _"I had to stop it, Tori. Your feelings for me went deeper than I had intended. I never wanted you to fall for me so hard. I've never meant for that to happen."

"You're lying, Jade! This wasn't just experimenting. I know you. I _know _that you're lying to me!"

"You don't know anything about me, Tori," she seethes and desperately tries to ignore the hurt that flashes over Tori's face. _You're playing a role, Jade. Remember that. _"Do you think just because you come here and beg your pathetic little heart out I will take you back?" A bitter laugh escapes Jade's throat, slicing through Tori like one of Jade's sharp scissors. Tori releases a loud sob and can't stop her tears from spilling over anymore.

"Why are you doing this, Jade?"

Tori's eyes plead with her and Jade _knows _that she needs to get away soon if she doesn't want to crumble in front of the crying Latina. "You don't leave me a choice! Why do you make it so hard on yourself, huh? I tried everything possible to make this easy for you."

"_Nothing_ could make this easy for me, Jade!" Tori's voice raises now too, tears continuing to spill from her eyes. "I love you! You can't just tell me that everything you said," she pauses and shakes her head unbelievingly, her voice quieting down again, "everything you did… was just… _pretending_."

"There she goes again. Tori Vega, the hopeless romantic." She takes a step forward, her hard gaze not wavering. _You're doing great, Jade. It's for the best, don't break now. Just give her one last push and it's over._ "Always believing this _one true love_ shit. Well guess what, _Tori_," her voice drops to almost a whisper and she knows by the way Tori's face crumples as she tries to keep everything in, that she's almost finished. Jade mentally braces herself because she _knows_ this will push her over the edge. "You were nothing more than a good fuck to me. Nothing more. I _knew_ I would only get you into bed by telling you how _in love _I am with you. And look! It worked."

She steps back, her hand finding the door handle. "It was great for the time being. But you know… I get bored pretty easily. You wanted the truth? Well here you have it."

She walks out then, not being able to handle this anymore. She hears Tori sobbing and all she really wants to do is go back and comfort her. But instead of doing that, she runs out of the school and only when she's driving out of the parking lot, does she let her tears fall.

…

An entire week passes and Jade feels miserable.

She sees Tori at school every day but they don't talk and hardly look at each other. Jade tries her best to avoid her, fearing that if she _does_ spend time with her, she would get weak and ask her to come back to her. At lunch both of them would sit at different tables or one of them would just eat inside, and their friends would take turns with who they eat. They didn't know what exactly had happened between the two girls. Jade supposed that Tori hadn't talked to any of them about it, and Jade sure as hell wouldn't either. The only person who knew everything was Beck, but Jade knows he wouldn't tell a soul.

At home it's just as complicated. Aiden and Jade barely talk and when they do, they fight. Jade refuses to take the blame for it and so does Aiden, seeing as he doesn't know the real reason behind Jade's behavior towards him. But on the upper side, Aiden hadn't mentioned Tori anymore and Jade believes that it must be a good sign.

Jade lets herself plop down onto the sofa in the living room, turning on the TV and zapping through the channels. She sighs aggravated and flips the TV off when nothing catches her interest. She's just sitting there for a while, staring into space and letting her thoughts wander, when she feels her phone vibrating. Jade pulls it out to see a new text message from Cat.

_Hey hey! Do you want to come over and hang out?_

Despite everything, Jade smiles down at her phone. Cat had tried everything possible to cheer both Jade and Tori up and, although she hadn't really succeeded, Jade still appreciates the effort she puts into it.

_No, not today. Some other time._

Jade sighs and puts her phone onto the coffee table before letting herself fall back, closing her eyes. Her peace is mildly interrupted when a shadow appears in front of her closed eyelids and when she opens them, she looks into the ice blue eyes of her brother.

"Hey."

Jade lets out a sharp breath and after curtly greeting her brother, she closes her eyes again. The weight on the sofa shifts and Jade sighs irritably. "What now?"

"I just want to sit here. Is that a problem for you?"

Jade snaps her eyes open and sits up straight. "For a fact, yes it is. You're annoying the hell out of me and you're doing it on purpose." Aiden's eyebrows furrow and he scoffs. "No, I'm not. I just wanted to try and make everything right between us. But then _you _had to go and turn everything on me again!" Jade shakes her head and stands up, not bothering to look back as she made her way up the stairs.

"I just want my sister back, is that so hard for you to understand?" He hears Jade mumble a quiet "Whatever" and sighs as he hears her bedroom door closing. Aiden rubs his hands over his face and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, hands still firmly planted on his face, he peeks through the gaps of his fingers, seeing Jade's phone lying on the coffee table. His hands fall into his lap and a frown graces his face as an idea strikes.

"I'm going to make everything right again."


	7. Chapter 6

_**I need to talk to you. Can we meet somewhere?**_

Tori had been staring at the text for at least 5 minutes, her heart doing back flips in her chest as she wondered what Jade possibly wanted to talk about. Does she want to get back together with her? _Stop it Tori! You'll just get disappointed! _But…what else could she want? Wow, she didn't think a person could feel so pathetic. How could she want to get back together with the person who completely shattered her, who told her that she just used her for sex? Just her _considering_ to get back together with Jade made her completely crazy… right? Tori takes a deep breath and with shaky fingers, she types in a reply.

_**Why? I don't think there's anything we have to talk about.**_

She presses "Send" and bites her lip, anxiously waiting for Jade to text back. Where is the point in meeting up with her? She made herself pretty clear when she told her she didn't love her and saying… well, everything else. That surely hasn't changed in just a week, right? Her phone buzzes in her hand and Tori sees a new message from her ex-girlfriend.

_**Please Tori. It's really important. I wouldn't text you if it wasn't. Meet me at my dad's house?**_

Tori's eyebrows move downwards as she reads the text from Jade. At her father's house? Is this some kind of joke? _This is just getting weirder and weirder_, Tori thinks and is about to type in that she won't be meeting up with her, when her phone buzzes again.

_**I know it's probably really confusing for you but please trust me on this. Tonight at around 7 at my dad's house. You got the address right?**_

She sighs and scratches the back of her head. It _seems_ important. And no matter what Jade said or did, she was still Jade and Tori was never able to resist her. And maybe there really is something up. What kind of person would she be if she just ignored this?

_You're just looking for excuses to see her. _

Tori sighs again and quickly goes into her list of contacts and scrolls down, tapping Jade's name. It rings and rings, but Jade doesn't pick up. Tori hangs up again and weights down her options: She could go and see what Jade wants which will either cause her to feel better or even crappier than she already does. Or she could stay home, go up to her room and cuddle herself into her blankets, avoiding getting her heart possibly even more broken. Groaning, she throws her head back, before deciding to type in a text message.

_**Yes I do. I'll see you later then.**_

_What harm could it do?_

…

When she arrives at Jade's dad's house, Tori doesn't see Jade's car anywhere but the lights in the house are on so someone must be home. Tori hesitates. Should she ring the bell or wait for Jade to arrive? _Well, it _is _pretty cold and it gets dark already…_ She shakes her head and just goes for it, ringing the doorbell of the West household. While she waits, she takes a look around the neighborhood. The house of Jade's father is noticeably the biggest, and Tori wonders what exactly Jade's dad does for a living. She had asked Jade once but she had just furrowed her eyebrows and responded: "I don't really know to be quite honest. He works in some office of some huge company that produces computers or something." _Well,_ Tori muses,_ he must be getting a good salary there._ Tori had already been here and the house is just as big and fancy on the inside as it is on the outside.

The door swings open and Tori turns, looking into light blue eyes. The person in front of her smiles and Tori's eyes widen, before she lets out an uncomfortable laugh. "Oh. Hi Aiden."

"Hey Tori. What a pleasant surprise."

Tori nods and creases her eyebrows, smiling uncomfortably him. "Uh, I'm sorry but…Jade texted me to come here, I thought…" She trails off when Aiden nods and steps aside, motioning with his hand for her to come inside. "Oh yeah, yeah. Come on in." Tori smiles in thanks and enters, Aiden closing the door behind her. She turns to face Jade's brother and sees him looking at her from head to toe. It sets her off a bit and she clears her throat. "So, um…is Jade here or…?"

"I'm sure she will be here soon. Why don't you wait with me until she arrives?" Aiden grabs her shoulders and Tori hesitates for a second, but then lets him lead her into the kitchen. Aiden guides her to the kitchen island, patting a stool for her to sit on and sits on one across from her. Tori shifts and wrings her hand together. She looks over to Aiden, who smirks and just sits there, staring at her. Tori shoots him a reluctant smile. He freaks her out a bit, if she was honest, the way he's just sitting there without uttering a word. She really hopes Jade will be here soon.

Very soon.

"So Tori," Aiden starts, creasing his eyebrows, "I thought you and Jade broke up?"

He has a bewildered smile on his face and Tori slowly nods. "Yeah, we…we did but…I don't really know what Jade wants. She just texted me and said it was important, so…" Aiden begins to laugh and Tori confusedly shakes her head, trying to find the humor in her words. "What's so funny?"

Aiden shakes his head and fixes his eyes on Tori. She nearly flinches at the intensity in his eyes and can't help but feel queasy. "Oh, actually, nothing's funny. It's just," Aiden narrows his eyes but the smile on his face still doesn't fade, "what did you expect when you got Jade's text? That you could be friends after your break up? Or that you could possibly get back together?" Tori swallows, her throat feeling like sandpaper, and moistens her lips. "I…I don't really think that's…I think that's something that should stay between me and Jade."

A humorless laugh escapes Aiden's lips and he stands up from the kitchen stool, shaking his finger at Tori. "See, and _that's _where you're wrong, Tori." He steps closer to her. "Because Jade is my sister. And I want her to be happy. But she isn't, Tori. She isn't happy." His face is only mere inches away from hers, and Tori tries to shift back a little bit, her hands tightly gripping the edge of the bar stool. She swallows again – loudly, she's sure about that – and shakes her head. "I really didn't mean to make her upset but…_she_ broke up with me. I wouldn't have…"

Aiden steps back from her and Tori lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. He smiles and raises his eyebrows, Tori risking a glimpse behind her, to look for any sign of Jade.

_What takes her so long?_

"Let me tell you something, Tori." His voice is almost taunting as he sits back down on his stool. He rests his elbows on the surface of the counter, staring intently at Tori. "Ever since Jade was a little girl…me and her had a strong bond. That didn't change over the years. That is…until you stepped into the picture." He pauses and Tori furrows her eyebrows. His smile slips but his expression stays friendly as he narrows his eyes at her. "I don't really want you to get back together. She's been treating me like dirt lately. And you know what I think? I think it's because of you. In fact, I _think_ you are a bad influence on her."

Tori feels her heart speed up. She doesn't know what to do or say, all she knows is that she wants to get away from Aiden. She stands up, fumbling with the strap of her bag. "Listen, I should probably go now. I don't think Jade is-"

"Oh, so you want to let my sister down? Imagine her face when she comes and I have to tell her that you went home because you were sick of waiting for her. Don't think that will make her very happy."

Tori frowns. What is he trying to do? Aiden creeps her out and all she wants to do is run out the door and go home, but something inside of her tells her to stay. What if Jade really comes and she isn't here? She'll be so disappointed in her. Tori reluctantly sits back down and puts her bag onto the counter, her eyes never leaving Aiden's figure.

Aiden smiles contently. "Good." The smile drops from his face and he seems to be in deep thought as he looks down onto the counter. He looks up again and a curious expression takes hold of his face.

"Hey, can I show you something?"

…

A distant ringing sound pulls her out of her light slumber and Jade groans, scrambling to her feet. She slumps down the stairs and walks into the living room, her phone buzzing and ringing on the coffee table for the millionth time. She doesn't bother to look at the caller ID and answers. "What?"

"_Yeah, hey, it's Trina."_

"Trina?"

"_Yeah. I've been calling you over and over. Thanks for ignoring me, goth lady. Can I talk to Tori for a second?"_ Jade's eyes narrow. Wow, can Trina be any more insensitive? Jade is pretty sure that she knows that they are broken up so why the fuck is she calling her? "No, you can't, Trina. Tori and I broke up, remember?"

"…_Yeah? I know that. But Tori told me she'd be with you and she doesn't answer her phone so-"_

"Wait, what? Why would she say that?" Jade really couldn't think of a reason why Tori would tell Trina that she is with her. Not after the way she treated her. So what is going on? An impatient sigh sounds from the other end of the line.

"_How would _I_ know that? She got a text from you and told me that she would see me later. So what's the deal now? Is Tori with you or not?"_

A text? She didn't send Tori a text. _Why on earth-_ Jade's eyes widen when a thought crosses her mind. There's only one reasonable explanation. _Aiden._ Her phone had been lying here, he could have easily...

Jade runs up the stairs, phone still pressed to her ear. "No, she isn't. But did Tori tell you something else? Anything?" She pushes open the door to Aiden's room but her brother isn't there.

"_No, just that she would meet up with you. I think she said with you and your dad or something like that." _

"My dad…" Her father isn't in town for the entire week. He and his wife are at some congress so that is complete bullshit. But Aiden knows that their dad isn't home and that the house is empty for the time being, so that means…

"_Well, I'm hanging up now. Bye."_

Jade doesn't bother to say anything back and when Trina hangs up, Jade quickly checks her text messages, but there aren't any there, just the last ones from Cat. She dials Aiden's number next but it goes straight to voicemail and Jade curses loudly, while putting on her jacket. She storms out of the house, running to her car and she tries calling Tori too, but the girl would just not pick up. "No, no, _no!"_ She starts the car and dials one last number, the only person who could help her. After the third ring, she hears a confused voice filtering through the phone.

"Jade?"

"Beck. I need your help. Something's wrong."

…

Tori's wide eyes can't seem to look away from the shiny blade in Aiden's hand, Aiden intently looking at it and carefully running his fingers across it. He seems so engrossed in this knife that Tori considers running out of the house, hoping he wouldn't even notice. She is seriously getting scared now. She hadn't thought that, when he asked her if he could show her something, she would end up seeing _this_. Tori thought he would show her an old picture of Jade and him. Or a painting Jade had drawn for him when she was little. But she certainly didn't expect him to show her this…_fancy_ knife which looks really dangerous in her opinion.

"You know," Tori flicks her eyes to Aiden's face, this being the first words since he took the knife out of his pocket, "this is my favorite knife. It's so beautiful, don't you think? And you wouldn't know what it already saw in its short existence." He chuckles and Tori feels her throat tightening up. Her eyes keep flicking from Aiden's face to the jackknife in his hands and she comes to the realization that Jade surely _hadn't _texted her. Her ringtone suddenly sounds and Tori slightly turns her head to look at her bag but before she can make a move, Aiden grabs her bag and rummages through it until he finds the vibrating object. He looks at the display and smiles. "Oh it's Trina. Friend of yours?"

"My sister." Her voice sounds so foreign to her own ears and she clears her throat to stop the lump in her throat to grow even more. "Well, I hope it's not important because you _obviously_ don't have time for her now. We'll just let it ring, shall we?" He grins brightly and Tori fights the urge to throw up at his calm behavior when, obviously, he had some kind of problem with her. The ringing stops and Aiden puts the phone out of reach for Tori. "You don't mind, do you?" He motions to the phone and laughs. "No, of course you don't."

"Why are you doing this?"

Her voice is quiet, her soft brown eyes staring at him as if she would find an answer by looking into his eyes. Aiden raises his eyebrows and holds up his hands. "What are you talking about? I'm not doing anything."

"Well, then you surely won't mind me going home now." Tori stands up but quickly takes a step back when Aiden holds the knife up and gets closer to her. "You're not going anywhere," he growls, "Sit. Down." Tori obeys immediately, her body slightly beginning to tremble. Aiden lowers the knife again and she feels tears welling up in her eyes. "What do you want from me?"

Aiden sighs loudly, the hard look disappearing again as he shakes his head. "I thought we already established this. But alright. I guess I didn't make myself clear enough. Wait, I haven't really…" He trails off and frowns before he laughs loudly. "I'm sorry. I'm a little rusty at this. Okay. So what I want from you…" Tori bites down hard on her lip when Aiden comes closer to her, the knife dangerously close to her throat. "I want you to…stop being such a _damn_ bad influence on my sister. I want you to," Tori gasps at the feeling of the cold blade hitting her cheek, Aiden carefully running it along her jawbone, not yet hurting her. "stay away from Jade. But that won't work if you're alive, my pretty girl."

Her phone goes off again. Aiden groans and takes the knife away from Tori's skin, turning his back to Tori. "Man, you sure are popular this evening, aren't you?" He isn't prepared for what comes next. "So, where wer-" Aiden lets out a scream as his eyes burn from the contact with the substance Tori sprays into his face and he stumbles and falls to his knees, rubbing at his eyes, trying to stop the burning.

"You little bitch!"

Tori runs to the front door, silently thanking her father for making sure she always had pepper spray in her purse and tries to open the door, but fails. She rattles and pushes at it but it just wouldn't open. "You won't be successful with the door, sweetheart. You need the code to open it up," Aiden shouts from the kitchen and Tori looks around, trying to find a way to escape. Tori runs up the big staircase, hearing Aiden coming closer and rips open a door to a random room, slamming it close and locking it behind her. She breathes heavily and stops for a moment. She can't believe this is happening. It _couldn't _be happening.

"Oh! So you wanna play a game with me? Alright, fine with me. But I can tell you princess, it won't help you much."

Aiden's voice is getting closer and closer and Tori panics, her eyes frantically trying to find an exit. Her eyes stop at the window. It's her only choice. She runs over, ripping the window open and looking out. A tree is located directly in front of it and Tori looks down. She gulps. It's pretty high, she could hurt herself pretty badly.

_Well that's better than dying, you idiot! _

"_Tori_…come on! Don't be such a party pooper! Where are you hiding?"

She has no other choice. Without really thinking about it, Tori climbs up the window sill and takes a deep breath, before jumping onto the big tree. She laughs, even though she doesn't really know why, and holds onto the tree for dear life. Tori pushes out a breath and uses the protruding branches to climb down, praying that they won't crumble under her weight. She almost reaches the ground when she hears a loud crash from inside the house. Tori jumps and lands harshly on the ground, letting out a pained hiss when her ankle twists itself. She scrambles to her feet, despite the pain, but feels her heart stopping when someone harshly yanks her around.


	8. Chapter 7

_Tori jumps and lands harshly on the ground, letting out a pained hiss when her ankle twists itself. She scrambles to her feet, despite the pain, but feels her heart stopping when someone harshly yanks her around._

Her eyes are wide but her scream gets stuck in her throat when she sees who is grabbing her arm.

"Jade?"

Soft blue eyes stare at her and Tori lets out a small sob before throwing her arms around Jade's neck. It didn't matter what happened between them, Jade was here and that's more than she could ask for. She feels Jade's arms tightly wounding around her body and Tori buries her face into her neck. "Jade! Jade…your brother, he…"

"I know Tori, I know. But listen," Jade grabs Tori's face in her hands and makes sure she understands her, just as another crash sounds from inside the house, "we have to go now, okay? Are you hurt?" Tori shakes her head but gasps when she tries to take a step forward. "Just my ankle. I must have… I mean the tree and... I fell." Jade nods, snaking her arm around Tori's waist and supporting her during the walk to her car. She makes sure Tori's safe inside the car and runs to the driver's side when the yell of her name catches her attention.

"Jade! What are you doing?"

Jade's eyes snap to the open window, Aiden leaning out of it. "I'm just trying to protect you, Jade! Don't you understand?" She doesn't answer him. Instead, she hops into the car, Aiden yelling at her to wait as she takes a deep breath before quickly starting it up. They drive in silence for a while, Jade shooting looks into the rearview mirror ever so often to make sure that Aiden's not following them, before Jade speaks up.

"Are you okay?"

Tori doesn't respond. Jade glances over at her, the brunette staring at her feet with crunched eyebrows, completely oblivious to the fact that Jade talked to her. "Tori?" Her eyes snap up and she stares at Jade for a moment before she shakes her head. "Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm okay." Jade nods, her eyes steadily fixed on the road in front of her. They stop at a streetlight and Tori turns her body towards Jade. "Jade…what happened tonight?"

Jade sighs and looks at Tori before shifting her attention back to the red stoplight. "Tori. I'm so sorry for what happened. I thought I could protect you by breaking up with you but…" Jade laughs bitterly, "That didn't work out so well."

"But why-"

"Listen Tori," The stoplight turns green and Jade steps onto the gas pedal. "I'm going to explain everything, okay? But not here in the car." Tori frowns but nods and the two girls ride in silence until they arrive at their destination. At the sight of the house in front of her,Tori furrows her eyebrows and flicks her eyes to Jade.

"What are we doing here?"

"Just trust me," Jade tells her before getting out of the car and walking over to the passenger side, helping Tori get out. They walk around the house until they reach the familiar silver RV. Jade knocks and the door flies open almost immediately, revealing Beck, his hair tousled and a concerned look on his face. When his eyes fall onto the two girls in front of him, he lets out a relieved sigh and steps away from the door, so Jade and Tori could enter. "Thank God. I was so worried." Upon seeing how Tori is limping, he rushes to the side Jade isn't supporting, carefully sitting her down onto the bed. "What's wrong? Did he hurt you?"

Tori's eyebrows crease and her confused brown eyes snap up to look at Beck. Why did he immediately suspect that someone had hurt her?

"No, she fell from a tree." Beck shifts his eyes to Jade, shooting her a disapproving look for being sarcastic in such a situation. Jade raised her eyebrows at her ex-boyfriend. "Seriously! Do you really think I would make jokes right now? Tori climbed out of a window and then down this big tree that stands in my dad's front yard and fell." Beck nods and sits down on the other side of Tori. "And Aiden? He didn't hurt you?"

Both pairs of eyes, blue and brown, stare at her worriedly. "No. He…he had a knife though. But then I remembered the pepper spray in my bag and just…ran." Her eyes keep flicking between Beck and Jade. "Is somebody going to tell me what's going on?"

Beck looks over to Jade, urging her on and she lets out a long sigh before she takes Tori's hand in hers. "Okay, listen. My brother…he's really dangerous. He always was. He's…" Jade trails off and takes a deep breath. "He's a killer, Tori. It's not safe to be around him."

"Oh yeah?" Tori laughs bitterly and rips her hand out of Jade's grasp, "I would never have guessed he's dangerous, Jade! I thought he was holding the knife to my throat for _fun_!"

She tries to get up but a sharp pain shoots through her ankle causing her to fall back onto the couch again. Tori hisses and rubs her ankle, shaking her head and speaking in a calmer voice. "What happened tonight? What did he want from me?"

Tori's eyes fill with tears as she questioningly looks up at Jade. She still couldn't really understand what had happened tonight, Beck and Jade's vague answers didn't help her very much either. "I don't… it's complicated Tori. He's…" Jade trails off with a sigh, "I knew he was dangerous, that's why I broke up with you. That's why I didn't want you to meet him. But now I… I don't think he would have done something, hadn't I become so damn paranoid!"

Jade looks away, burying her hands in her hair. "God, this is all my fault! I swear, if I would have just acted _normal_ I-"

"Jade stop!"

Jade's eyes snap over to Beck, the boy intently staring at her. "Don't do that! This isn't your fault. You wanted to keep Tori safe. It's not your fault that your brother is a psychopath."

"But I could have avoided that. If I wouldn't have overreacted like that, this probably would have never happened."

Tori softly touches Jade's hand and shuffles closer to her. "Jade, Beck is right. No one blames you." Jade slightly shakes her head, not being able to understand Tori. After everything she's done to her, here she is, almost being murdered today _because_ of Jade, and still she's making sure that Jade doesn't take the blame for this. Tori pauses and swallows harshly. "But what if he… I mean… do you think he will just… _stop_ now?"

Jade doesn't have an answer for that. Her main concern was to get Tori away from Aiden, into safety. She didn't think about anything that would happen after. She opened her mouth to voice her thoughts when Beck spoke up. "He won't hurt you. I," he paused, hesitant eyes flicking over to Jade, "called the police on him."

Beside her, Tori lets out a relieved breath but Jade's eyes are steadily fixed on Beck. "You… called the police?"

"Yeah, I did," Beck carefully lets his eyes wander over Jade's face to try and decipher what she was feeling. He knows that, even though Aiden most definitely _is_ a bad person, Jade still loves him. She knows different sides of her brother and Beck knows that she tries to hold on to them, no matter what happens. But when Jade had called him, he knew the only logical thing was to call the police. "I mean, I called Tori's dad and... you know. Jade, it's the best thing to do. He's sick."

"I-I know. I just didn't… expect…"

"I know. I thought they would already be there when you arrived there but… well, apparently they're pretty slow." He laughs uncomfortably and scratches his neck when suddenly a knock sounds at the door. Three pairs of eyes all snap over to the door, neither one of the teenagers having the courage to go and open it up. Tori leans into Jade's side, feeling Jade's arms wrap around her frame, their eyes never leaving the door.

"Beck?" The worried voice of Beck's mother filters through the door and all three of them let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. "Open up. The police is here."

Beck scrambles to his feet and unlocks his door, coming face to face with his mother, Mr. Vega and another police officer. He quickly steps aside and tells them to come in. Mr. Vega's eyes immediately find Tori and he rushes to her side, his concerned brown eyes flicking all over his daughter's face. "Sweetheart, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Tori smiles faintly and sits up straight, her hand refusing to let Jade's go, tightly holding on to it. "I'm fine, dad. Just my ankle."

The other officer steps up to the girls and shoots them a friendly smile. "I'm Michael Peterson, you two already know Officer Vega. We have some questions for you two."

Next to Tori, Jade speaks up. "Have you arrested my brother?"

Mr. Vega and Mr. Peterson exchange a careful look before Mr. Vega looks back at Jade, a frown taking a hold of his face. "Jade, your brother… he was gone when we got to the house."

"W-What do you mean he was gone?" Jade's eyes widen and her hold on Tori's hand tightens. "You have to find him! What if… what if he tries to hurt Tori again?"

"You have to calm down, Jade. We sent out various units to look for him. It's just a matter of time before we find him." Jade nods and takes in a deep breath. Tori's thumb gently rubs circles on Jade's hand, trying her best to calm her down. "However, we need you to tell us everything you know. And I mean, _everything_. You don't need to be scared to tell us, nothing's going to happen to you or Tori."

After a short moment of hesitation, Jade nods her head and Mr. Vega smiles contently, getting up from his seat. "Okay. Then let's go."

…

Jade presses her fingers into her closed eyes and takes in a deep breath.

The interrogation had taken forever. Mr. Vega really didn't exaggerate when he told her that they needed her to tell them everything. They squeezed every possible information about Aiden out of her, whether it seemed important or not. The detective that investigated in Melissa's case had been present too, Jade still remembered his face from when he was at their house all those years ago. It had been intimidating, three people (including Mr. Vega) staring at her, bombarding her with questions about her brother. But as much as it hurt her, Jade didn't hold back. She told them everything. From Melissa to Anna, and everything she suspects about him. It was strange telling the stories to these people, especially since the only person she ever told everything about Aiden had been Beck. And in some way she even felt guilty. Jade felt like she was betraying her brother and for a millisecond, she wondered if she did the right thing. But she was sure she did. She would do anything for Tori. And Aiden had to be stopped, it didn't matter that he was her brother.

Someone lays a hand on her thigh and Jade slowly opens her eyes to see Tori sitting in the chair next to her. Her lips are quirked up in a small smile but Jade's face stays void of any emotion. "Hey," Tori whispers, her voice nearly drowning in the sounds of ringing telephones and mumbling people. Jade manages a small smile but doesn't say anything. "How are you doing?"

Tori's forehead creases in worry and Jade has to stop herself from smiling. Typical Tori. She's the one who was threatened and nearly died today but all she worries about is Jade. Jade sighs, turns her head away and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. I'm okay, I guess." She looks back at Tori, frowning at the brunette. "But shouldn't I rather ask _you _that question?"

"No, I'm fine," she says dismissively, her eyes wandering down to her bandaged ankle, "my ankle is too. The doctor said it's just a little sprain and it'll get better in one or two days."

Just now Jade notices Tori's bandaged foot and the crutches leaning next to Tori against the wall. "Oh, you were at the hospital already?"

"Yeah. You took pretty long in there." Tori flicks her head in the direction of the room where Jade had spent her time telling the police of Aiden. Jade nods and presses her lips together before she finally says what swirled around in her head ever since they arrived at Beck's RV. "Tori, I'm so really sorry that you had to go through this," she pauses when she sees Tori open her mouth and quickly takes a hold of her hand, "No, just… let me say that now, okay? Don't talk." Jade waits for Tori to nod before she continues.

"Everything I wanted was to protect you. And I don't even want to imagine what could have happened today." She briefly closes her eyes when various scenarios play out in her head but opens them shortly after. "I don't want you to get hurt, never. And I know… that I _did_ hurt you by breaking up with you and… and saying all those things to you." Jade watches as Tori harshly swallows, her brown eyes fixing themselves on their intertwined hands. "But I want you to know that I never meant that. I just… I _needed_ you to be safe and… I thought that was the only way I could accomplish that."

Jade squeezes Tori's hand and waits for her to look back up again before she continues. "I love you. I do. And I don't say it nearly enough, I know that. But… I love you. And I'm so, so sorry, baby."

Jade barely has time to register what's happening when Tori launches forward, tightly wrapping her arms around Jade's neck. Jade closes her eyes and wraps her own arms around Tori's waist, trying to pull her even closer when she hears Tori mumble "I love you too" into her shoulder.

They stay in each other's arms until Jade's mom rushes into the police department, quickly approaching the two girls, a million questions rushing out of her mouth. Jade can't really concentrate on her though, her mind too occupied with thoughts of Aiden and his whereabouts. She hopes the police will find him soon, so that her nightmare could finally be over.


	9. Chapter 8

_A/N: This one is a little longer because I just didn't know how to split it up in two. I thought I'd update again because I don't know if I'll be able to in the next few days. I'm not home the entire Wednesday and I'm also a little sick so... I'll see what I can do. Hope you enjoy :)_

* * *

Pale fingers gently brush over her brow and then over her cheek, trailing across her tan jawbone, down the expanse of her neck. Tori shivers but doesn't wake up, only cuddling herself deeper into the thin blanket enveloping her body. A light smile is tugging at the corner of her lips and Jade wonders if she's dreaming right now. Sighing, Jade retracts her hand from Tori's body and lets herself plop back down onto her back. Her eyes roam over the white ceiling, the beam of sunlight coming through the crack of the blinds slightly illuminating the room.

It's been three weeks. _Three freaking weeks _and the police still doesn't have a clue where Aiden is. How is that even possible? Jade didn't think her brother would be that hard to track down. He couldn't still be in L.A. otherwise the police would surely have already found him… right? Jade tightly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She was so tired. Ever since Aiden's on the loose she wasn't able to sleep through the nights. Every few hours she would wake up, thinking she heard a noise or that Tori wasn't lying next to her. Not to mention the near heart attack she gets when she realizes that Tori _really _isn't lying beside her and shoots up from her bed, only then realizing that she was sitting in her own bed and Tori was at her own house, probably sound asleep. Every time Jade resists the urge to pick up her phone and dial Tori's number, only to really make sure that she was safe. But she refrains herself, every time, knowing that the police guards standing in front of the Vega household are keeping Tori safe.

Tori shifts beside her and throws her arm over Jade's waist, pulling herself closer to snuggle into Jade's shoulder. She sighs and Jade presses a kiss to Tori's forehead before nestling her nose into her hair. Tori was handling the entire situation incredibly well, way better than Jade. She isn't scared. Sometimes Jade even thinks that Tori completely forgot about Aiden after her ankle had healed. She smiled and laughed and just lived the same way she did before the incident with her brother. It unnerved Jade at times, seeing Tori being so careless. They still didn't catch Aiden, it _is_ still dangerous for Tori.

"You are awake."

Tori's breath tickles her ear and Jade turns towards Tori, her brown eyes drowsily staring up at her. "Oh, thanks for telling me Catherine Obvious."

"Stop," Tori whines and pokes her finger into Jade's side, her lips forming a pout. She props up onto her elbow, leaning forward to press her lips against Jade's cheek. She runs a hand through her brown hair and yawns before shooting Jade an accusing look. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Well, your obnoxious loud snoring woke me up," Jade smirks at the gasp coming out of Tori's mouth, "I just couldn't fall back asleep. Kept me up." Tori sits up completely and grabs her pillow, flinging it at Jade's face. "I do not snore!"

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't you little liar!" Jade laughs and sits up too, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. "How would you know? You're asleep, you can't hear the sounds you make."

"I don't make any sounds. It's just something you know about yourself. And I know I don't snore." She smirks as Jade rolls her eyes, sticking her tongue out at the black haired girl. Jade looks down and Tori loses her smirk, tilting her head. "No seriously now," she softly says, shifting closer to Jade, "why are you awake?"

Tori knew Jade didn't sleep nearly enough in the last few weeks and that really worried her. When they go to bed together, Jade always falls asleep first and Tori really doesn't know when _exactly_ she wakes up again. She never notices, she herself being always in a relatively deep sleep. Jade shrugs her shoulders, her eyes still down in her lap. "I couldn't sleep anymore." Tori almost rolls her eyes at Jade's usual answer whenever Tori asked about the lack of sleep she gets. "Jade, you don't have to be scared. There are two guards outside and they keep me safe. You don't have anything to worry about."

Jade looks up and lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "Yeah. I know."

Tori sighs and crawls over to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her side and pressing a kiss to her shoulder before she rests her head on it. "I'm worried about you."

"You don't have to be. I'm fine."

"Yeah? Well, I know that's a lie," Tori tightens her arms around Jade when she feels her tense, "I don't want you dying of sleep deprivation."

"You can't die of sleep deprivation."

"You're such a smart ass."

"Just stating the truth," she sighs and turns her head to rest her forehead against Tori's head, "I just want this to end. I want you to be safe again, without stupid guards following you around."

"I know. And I will be. You know my dad does everything to find Aiden."

Jade nods, her eyes falling shut as both girls grow silent. Tori's calm breathing is all she can hear, the gentle caress of Tori's fingers on her arm all she can feel and she's almost fallen asleep when a loud bang sounds from outside Tori's room. Jade jerks up from Tori's embrace, completely awake again as her heart beats unbelievingly fast.

"It's just Trina, baby."

The shrill voice of the older Vega sister yelling for her mom confirms her statement and Jade's rigid body relaxes back into Tori's. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, her racing heartbeat steadily slowing down. "Come on," Tori whispers, slowly leaning back and taking Jade with her, "go back to sleep. Everything's fine." Tori's fingers gently massage her scalp, threading through thick black hair, and Jade closes her eyes. But as soon as she closes them, she sees light blue eyes staring back at her, Aiden's voice sounding in her head with such malice that she snaps her eyes back open, sitting up and running a hand through her hair.

"I'm not tired anymore."

"Jade-"

"Come on, let's get breakfast. I'm starving."

Jade shoots a smile at Tori and quickly exits the room, not giving Tori a chance to argue. Tori just sighs and shakes her head before she slowly climbs out of bed too and follows Jade down the stairs.

…

Tori watches as Jade munches on her waffles and smiles up at her mother, who's pouring her a fresh cup of coffee. "Thanks Mrs. Vega."

Mrs. Vega smiles and turns away, walking into the kitchen to put the pot of coffee away. Tori bites her lip, still looking at Jade. If she didn't know better, she would think Jade was completely okay, other for the tiredness flashing on her face. But Tori knew that Jade was far from okay and she could understand her. Her brother is a killer, he wanted to kill her girlfriend and maybe he still wants to. And Jade doesn't even know the reason. Not that it would make things better. Tori knows Jade blames herself for putting her in such a dangerous position and no matter what Tori said to her, it just didn't help.

"You know, I hate it when people stare at me while I'm eating."

Tori furrows her eyebrows and confusedly shakes her head at the pointed look Jade is giving her. "Huh?"

"Stop staring at me."

The brunette blinks and sits up straight, a frown on her face as she looks down at her plate. "Yeah. Sorry." She takes her fork into her hand and lightly pushes her waffles around, earning herself a confused look from Jade. "Stop playing with your food, Tor."

Tori smiles and shakes her head but still doesn't look up from her plate. "You sound like you're my mother."

"Well, _I_ am your mother and I say Jade's right," Tori's mom says as she takes a seat at the table, placing her own plate of food in front of her. Tori rolls her eyes but smiles nevertheless, finally digging into her waffles. It's silent for a while, all three women eating in silence with only the sound of the radio playing in the background. As Mrs. Vega takes a sip from her coffee, she looks between Jade and Tori with a smile on her face. "So, do you two have any plans for today?"

Jade shrugs her shoulders and places her fork and knife onto her empty plate before leaning back in her chair. "No, not really." On the other side of the table, Tori frowns, swallowing her food before speaking up. "Well, actually I thought we could go to the park today, have a picnic maybe. Or… I don't know, we could call up the others and go to the beach." She raises hopeful eyebrows at Jade and smiles but Jade only frowns.

"Oh. Yeah, we could do that," she nods and her eyes find the table. She doesn't really like for Tori to go out while Aiden's still out there somewhere. But nothing could happen to her if she would go with her. And taking the others with them would be even safer. Jade looks back up from the table and smiles at Tori, receiving a happy smile back, before she turns to Mrs. Vega. "Does the police have any clue yet?"

Mrs. Vega shakes her head regretfully. "No, they don't." Jade nods and averts her eyes, Mrs. Vega reaching out to touch her arm. "But don't worry, sweetie. They do everything they can to find him. Just enjoy yourself. You don't need to worry about anything bad happening." Jade nods and Mrs. Vega smiles and gives her arm one last squeeze before she resumes eating her breakfast. Jade sighs and slowly gets up from the table. "Well, I'm going to take a shower then."

Tori smiles and watches her girlfriend leave, also getting up from the table to start calling their friends. "Tori, wait a moment," Mrs. Vega speaks up and stands up, approaching her daughter. Shooting a quick look behind Tori to make sure Jade wasn't in earshot anymore, she turns her attention fully on Tori. "I didn't want to say something while Jade was still here. I know this whole situation upsets her the most," she sighs and Tori frowns.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Well… you know your dad and his colleagues are doing everything they possibly can to find Aiden." She pauses and takes in Tori's curious expression before slowly continuing. "But… they really don't know what to do anymore. It's like Aiden has fallen off the face of the earth."

Tori's eyes widen. "S-So what are you saying? That they'll stop looking for him?"

"No! No, of course not! But you know… your dad's boss is aware that it is still dangerous for you but he… he needs all his people and he thinks that… that it's safe enough for you now because he doesn't think Aiden will come back for you, so… he decided that you don't need protection anymore."

"So… the guards won't be here anymore?" Tori furrows her eyebrows as she takes in her mother's hesitant nod. She doesn't really know how she feels about this. Sure she had been annoyed at times, having two police officers follow her every move but Tori knew that it was just for her own good. They had only made sure she was safe. "Oh." It's all that comes out of Tori's mouth as she looks down, a frown on her face. Tori's mom presses her lips together and patiently waits for a reaction from Tori.

She focuses her eyes back on her mother and slowly nods her head. "Okay. That's fine, I mean… as long as Aiden is still out there I'm just not going to… go out by myself. Then nothing can happen, right?"

Her mother gives her a reassuring smile. "Right."

Tori smiles, then makes her way upstairs, her stomach slowly starting to feel queasy.

…

Jade lifts her hand to hide her wide yawn as she watches Tori, Cat and Robbie splashing each other with water. She smiles when she hears Tori's surprised laugh as Andre picks her up from behind and throws her into the water. A warm shoulder bumps into her own and Jade turns her head to the right to see Beck sitting down next to her.

"How you doin'?"

His sing song voice makes her roll her eyes but she can't help the smile appearing on her lips. "Peachy, with a side of rainbows and unicorns."

Beck lets out a deep chuckle and nudges Jade's arm with a water bottle, the dark haired girl gladly grabbing the cool water from his hands. Beck watches as she takes a large gulp, closing her eyes as she lets the liquid swirl in her mouth for a few seconds before she swallows it. She sighs as she puts the cap back on and runs a hand through her hair. "It's so hot today."

Beck nods and leans back, resting his weight on his hands. He looks in the direction of his friends still loudly playing in the water, his eyes squinting to block out the brightness of the sun reflecting on the water. Without looking away, he starts to speak to Jade. "So, Tori told me you weren't sleeping."

Jade's eyes snap over to her ex-boyfriend, her eyebrows furrowing together. He still isn't looking at her and Jade watches him closely. "Why would she tell you that?"

Beck glances over at her. "Why not? Isn't it true?"

"No, it's not."

Beck sighs and gets into an upright sitting position, looking over at Jade. "So you're saying Tori's lying?" He lifts his eyebrows in disbelief and Jade rolls her eyes and turns away from him.

"Look Jade," he tilts his head, trying to catch Jade's eyes, "Tori is just worried about you. And knowing you don't sleep anymore worries me too." A loud scoff hinders him from saying anything else and Jade's angry eyes turn over to him, but the tiredness on her face doesn't leave Beck any room to feel intimidated. "Don't make this so dramatic. I _do _sleep. I admit, not very much but it's still enough. So start worrying about someone else."

She draws her knees up and wraps her arms around them, muttering a quiet "Idiot" and looking back at the ocean in front of her. Both, Beck and Jade are silent for a while, with Jade staring straight ahead and Beck shooting glances at Jade ever so often. "I know it's hard for you," Beck quietly breaks the silence, looking at Jade, "not just that Tori's in danger. But also that you lost your brother."

Beck watches as Jade swallows harshly, biting her teeth together. He licks his lips and continues. "It's okay, you know. That you're sad about that. I know he was different around you. And it's okay to miss him."

"Who says I miss him?" But as much as she wants to convince Beck that she, in fact, _doesn't _miss Aiden, her quiet and weak voice betrays her and she feels Beck shifting closer. "Tell me you don't," he challenges as he looks into Jade's eyes. She blinks and shakes her head, averting her eyes. She takes a deep breath and looks at her hands. "It feels wrong to miss him."

"But it's not. He's your brother. He always will be your brother and you love him. That doesn't mean you love his… his… psychotic side. It just means that you love the side that he had for you. That he had for his family."

She looks back up then and slowly smiles. "Thank you. I think I… I needed to hear that."

Beck smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "Not a problem. But you know," he looks over at their friends, "Tori could help you too if you'd just… let her. If you would talk to her."

Jade follows Beck's eyes and watches Tori, smiling sadly. "I can't talk to her about Aiden. She wouldn't understand." Beck furrows his eyebrows and looks at Jade. "Sure she would."

"No, she wouldn't. But… I have you, right?" Jade's hopeful blue eyes search Beck's face and Beck can't help but smile and nod. "You do."

"Hey you guys! Everything good here?"

Tori's voice interrupts their peaceful moment and both heads turn towards the brunette. "Yeah, we're good," Jade smiles and Tori sits down in front of her, reaching for her towel. After drying her hair off a little, Tori chucks the towel back down next to Jade and smiles at her. "Don't you want to come in? The water's so nice."

"I don't go into the ocean."

Beck laughs beside them and Tori pouts at her girlfriend. "Not even for me?"

Jade smirks. "_Especially_ not for you." Tori gasps, her hand raising to hover over her heart in mock hurt. Beck chuckles and gets up, patting Tori's head. "If Jade's not going in then I'm going." The girls watch him leave and Tori takes Beck's place, turning her full attention on Jade. Jade, feeling eyes on her, turns towards Tori. "What?"

Tori shrugs, her brown eyes intently looking into Jade's. "Nothing. I just like looking at you." Jade raises an amused eyebrow. Tori softly smiles and shifts closer, planting her lips on Jade's and pushing Jade back onto the big towel. "Easy there Tor," Jade mumbles against her lips but Tori only smiles and kisses her more.

"Vega," Jade whines and pulls back from the kiss, "you're wet, get off of me." Tori laughs and buries her head into Jade's neck, placing a kiss just under her ear before nuzzling the skin there. They lie there for a couple of moments before Tori lifts her head to look into Jade's eyes. The brunette raises her eyebrows and smirks. "You know what I want right now?"

"What?"

A big smile brightens up Tori's face and she quickly gets up, pulling Jade up with her. "Ice cream!"

…

"Today was fun."

Tori runs a hand through Jade's hair and takes in her quiet hum, telling her that she's agreeing with her. "Jade?"

"What?" Jade mumbles sleepily, shifting her head slightly to look into Tori's eyes. Tori smiles at her and tucks a strand of black hair away from her face. "Don't you want to get changed? Then we can go to bed." Jade hesitantly nods, not really wanting to move but lifting her head from Tori's chest nevertheless to let her girlfriend get up. She sits up too and runs a hand through her hair.

"Hey Tori?"

"Yeah?"

Jade hesitates for a second but then sighs. "Why did you tell Beck that I wasn't sleeping?"

Tori turns away from Jade's closet to face Jade, looking at her confusedly. "What do you mean? I was worried about you."

"What, and that means that you have to tell Beck about it?"

Tori's eyebrows crunch together when she hears Jade's snappy tone. "No, I just… we… it came up. He asked about you and I… I told him I was worried about you because you weren't sleeping very much." She pauses when Jade shakes her head and looks away. Taking a step closer, Tori eyes her carefully. "Why are you so angry with me about that?"

"I'm not angry!"

Her head snaps back to look at Tori and she sees Tori flinch a little. She realizes that her words came out louder than she had intended and she sighs, looking at her lap. She doesn't know why she's so irritated or why she brought this up in the first place. Maybe it's the lack of sleep she got, making her feel moody. She just feels like lashing out. Tori is right, she feels angry. Angry at the world, angry at Aiden, angry at herself for no apparent reason. She isn't angry at Tori, it doesn't really bother her that she talked to Beck about her. But she is here right now and Jade needs someone to blame for her anger.

"I'm sorry, just… just forget it."

She doesn't look up from her lap but out of the corner of her eye she sees Tori coming closer, crouching down in front of her. "Jade, what's wrong?"

"I said forget it."

"Jade, tell me what's bothering you."

Angry blue eyes snap up to look into concerned brown ones and the rational part of Jade's mind knows that she should just stop and bite her tongue now, that only stupid things would come out of her mouth if she'd keep talking, but the stupid, sleep deprived part of her brain urges her to continue. "I don't want to tell you anything! Just do us both a favor and forget about it."

Tori touches her knee, still confused about Jade's behavior but wanting to calm her down. "Calm down. What got you so mad right now?"

Jade pushes out a harsh breath and swiftly gets up from the bed to pace around her room, Tori still crouched on the floor but turning around to watch her girlfriend. "I'm not mad! I'm irritated. With everything. And with you."

Tori's eyebrows shoot up and her eyes widen. "Me?"

_Stop Jade, just stop it now!_ "No," Jade sighs, closing her eyes, "No. I don't know what's wrong with me right now, Tori. Please can we just… go to sleep now?"

"No. No, we can't," Tori says and quickly gets up, striding over to Jade, "Come on, talk to me. I'm here."

She doesn't _want _to talk. Jade knows if she would keep talking, she would regret what would come out of her mouth. She probably would hurt Tori and she really doesn't want that. Jade groans and throws her head back. "God, why do you always have to be so annoyingly persistent?" Tori doesn't answer her and before Jade can stop herself she mumbles "That's what got us into this mess in the first place."

Tori's eyes widen at the words that leave Jade's mouth. Jade's head is turned away from her, her arms protectively wrapped around herself. "You- You blame _me_? What… Are you serious?"

Jade looks back at Tori, immediately regretting the words. Of course she _didn't _think that, it just… tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it. She opens her mouth but Tori beats her to it. "So let me get this straight now, Jade… You think it's _my_ fault that your _psycho _of a brother tried to kill me? Is that what you're saying?"

"No Tori, please-"

"Wow Jade, I really feel the love." Tori scoffs and quickly grabs her phone and bag before ripping the door open and walking out. Jade's eyes widen and she calls out her name, running after her girlfriend. She almost trips and falls down the stairs but quickly steadies herself, seeing her mother standing in the entryway of the living room, a cup in her hand, looking confusedly at the scene unfolding.

"Tori, Jade, what's go-"

"Bye Ms. West. Change of plans, I'm not staying here tonight. Have a good night."

"Tori, don't be stupid, just wait a second!"

Tori yanks open the front door and storms out, throwing it shut behind her, causing for Jade to almost break her nose. Jade silently curses, but quickly follows Tori who swiftly walks down the street. "Tori! Would you just stop and listen to me?"

"No. I just want to go home."

Jade finally manages to catch up with her and walks next to Tori, matching her fast pace. "I didn't mean what I said. It just came out of my mouth before I could stop it! I was mad!"

Tori scoffs but doesn't slow her pace. "Yeah, I know. At me."

"No, not at you! At… myself. At Aiden, but not at you." Jade tries to grab her arm but Tori quickly yanks it out of her grasp. "Tor, please stop. I'm so sorry. See? You got me to apologize. That's an achievement, don't you think?" Tori makes a face and keeps walking. "God, just _listen_ to me! I always thought I'm the gank in our relationship!"

Tori abruptly halts and narrows her eyes at Jade. "I just want to go home." The two girls stare at each other for a moment before Jade steps closer. "Okay. That's fine, I can drive you. Let's get back."

"I don't need you to drive me. I can walk."

Jade raises her eyebrows at Tori. "I'm not letting you walk. It's dark and it takes a while to get to your house. It's dangerous."

Tori looks down, shuffling her feet on the floor and slowly nods her head. It _is _dangerous, she knows that, and she really wouldn't like to walk all the way home alone. In the dark. Without any protection. She sighs and looks back up. "Okay. You're right."Jade smiles and reaches out to grab Tori's hand. "I know. I'm almost always right."

Tori looks back down to hide her smile, trying her hardest to stay mad at her girlfriend. But seeing her smile always turns her weak and it's not different now, either. Jade steps closer and Tori feels Jade's lips press against the side of her head. "And are you still mad at me?" Jade murmurs against Tori's hair and Tori sighs, giving Jade's hand a tight squeeze.

"Not so much anymore," she mumbles, "You have this stupid effect on me."

Jade chuckles and slightly turns her head to place a kiss on Tori's cheekbone. "Oh? What kind of effect?"

Tori takes in a breath, getting ready to respond, but quiet footsteps approaching divert Jade's attention. She turns her head, the smile on her face dropping, her heart stopping and mind freezing.

"Aiden."


	10. Chapter 9

_Tori takes in a deep breath, getting ready to respond, but quiet footsteps approaching divert Jade's attention. She turns her head, the smile on her face dropping, her heart stopping and mind freezing._

"_Aiden."_

"Huh?" Tori's confused voice barely reaches Jade's ears as she stands frozen on the spot. He steps even closer and now Tori turns her head too, her eyes widening and her mouth letting out a gasp.

"So? What kind of effect does Jade have on you, Tori?"

Jade finally snaps out of her frozen state and grabs Tori's hand tighter in hers to pull her away from Aiden. Tori pushes her body against Jade's, her wide brown eyes still fixed on Aiden standing in front of them. His blue eyes pierce through her head, almost killing her right on the spot with only his hard glare, his hands casually stuffed into the pockets of his dark blue jeans as if he had no worries in the world. As if he wasn't a searched criminal. He starts speaking again, although his face fails to deliver any emotion. "I'm curious, Tori," his voice is low and he cocks his head to the side, slightly narrowing his eyes at the brunette, "what is this effect my sister has on you?"

"Leave her alone, Aiden."

Jade's growled words bring Aiden's attention to his little sister and his eyes noticeably soften. "Stay out of this, Jade." His soft voice means nothing to her as she protectively shields Tori with her body, their hands still tightly fused together. Jade can hear Tori's erratic breathing in her ear, she can feel the nails of Tori's other hand tightly sinking into the flesh of her arm. "I'm not going to let you hurt her. Just get away from us."

His eyebrows crunch down and he shakes his head at Jade. "Don't you get it, Jade? I'm trying to help you here. Don't you see how she's getting in between us? She's _destroying _our family!"

"Shut up, Aiden!" Her voice is loud and in the back of her mind she hopes that someone will hear her. It's not that late yet, someone _has _to be still awake. Someone has to hear them. "Tori's not the one destroying our family. You are! Why are you like that? What… what kind of sick bastard are you?" Jade knows by the way Aiden swallows harshly and blinks several times that her comment had hurt him. And even though it hurts her too in a different kind of way, she won't stop. She has to keep going. "Do you seriously think I'm proud of you? Do you think I'm proud to have a murderer as a brother?"

"I'm not a murderer."

His voice is quiet, his eyes glued to the ground by Jade's feet and Jade scoffs at his statement. "No? What would you call it then? I know about Melissa and Anna." Aiden's eyes shoot up and widen. "I know that you killed them."

It's quiet for a moment, the two siblings staring at each other and Tori still securely tucked behind Jade. Aiden slowly shakes his head. "They… they couldn't stay in your life anymore. They hurt you."

His tone is so matter-of-factly that Jade almost believes him, his eyes not showing the slightest bit of remorse or guilt. "What are you talking about? They never hurt me. Never."

Aiden looks at his sister incredulously and quickly takes a step forward, causing Jade to push herself and Tori a step backwards. "Are you kidding me? You _never_ wanted to stay with Melissa. You always wanted to come with me or with mom and dad, but you never wanted to stay in the same house with her. I _had_ to do something. And Anna? Anna was just not good enough for you. She didn't deserve you as a friend."

"God Aiden, I was a kid! I didn't want to stay with Melissa because I wanted to be with Mom and Dad. Or because I wanted to spend time with my brother, to whom I _looked up _to! My brother who I admired once."

She can't help but grow quiet. She must look so pathetic, she thinks, as she looks at her brother full of disappointment. Aiden however shows almost no reaction, his jaw being tightly locked and his eyes coldly staring her down. Jade faintly hears Tori's voice calling her name but she doesn't react, instead putting all of her attention on Aiden. "Please just… turn yourself in. You'll get help, Aiden," she takes a tentative step forward, her grip on Tori slightly loosening, "This isn't normal. You're sick but I'm sure you can-"

"Did _she _plant that idea in your head?" His finger is pointed at Tori in accusation. "Did she say that I'm _sick_? How can you believe her? I'm your brother!"

"Tori didn't say anything. Don't you understand? You kill people like it's _nothing_. That isn't normal Aiden, you have to-"

"I won't do anything!" His voice booms through the quiet neighborhood and Jade takes a step back in fright, grabbing Tori's hand tighter again. Aiden curses silently and looks around to make sure no one was near before taking two quick strides forward until he stands directly in front of Jade, softly wrapping his hand around her arm. "Listen to me," Jade squirms, trying to get out of Aiden's grip but fails as he holds her in place, "You are going home now. You are _not_ going to tell _anyone_ about this. No one will know what happened to little Tori here."

"You are not going to hurt her, Aiden." Jade manages to get out of his grip and stumbles back, her body still shielding Tori. Aiden laughs quietly and looks away, shaking his head. Jade glances over her shoulder, her eyes briefly meeting Tori's scared brown ones.

"I didn't want to do this, but fine. You don't leave me a choice."

At hearing Aiden's voice, Jade turns her head again, her eyes widening as she comes face to face with a really big, shiny and _sharp _knife poised in front of her. Aiden steps closer again, the knife dangerously hovering near Jade's stomach as Aiden's free hand reaches out again to grab Jade's wrist. Tori whimpers, her nails digging deeper into Jade's arm but all Jade can see are Aiden's eyes, looking at her like he doesn't recognize his own sister anymore. "You two are going to come with me now, do you understand?"

"No, we're not."

"I'm not afraid to hurt you," Aiden growls at Jade, "if I have to do that in order to free you from her, then don't even _think_ I won't hurt you, Jade. I just want what's best for you." He stops, his eyes boring into Jade's, and wraps his fingers tighter around Jade's wrist to prove his point. "So come on now. And don't you dare to make a sound. I'm not stupid, okay?"

He lets the knife in his other hand disappear back into his jacket to be able to grab Tori's arm too. She quietly whimpers but Aiden doesn't even glance at her as he swiftly pulls the two girls further down the street, taking a sharp turn into a narrow alley until they reach a sleek black car. Aiden releases Jade but still keeps a firm grip on Tori while he fishes the keys out of his pocket, unlocking the car.

"Aiden, just stop. Let us go. I promise everything is going to get better."

"Well Jade, I can't do that. You see," he stops, ripping the backdoor open and practically throwing Tori inside. He motions for Jade to get in but she doesn't move. Aiden sighs exasperated and reaches out for his sister, softly pulling her towards him, fixing his eyes on hers. "Hadn't you called the police on me then maybe, just_ maybe_, would I have considered letting you go. But since that's not the case: Get. In."

Jade hesitates but soon her face loses the hard look and she obeys, climbing into the car next to Tori. She hears the door slam shut but her eyes are fixed on Tori, whose wide eyes stare at her in fright. "Everything will be okay," Jade whispers, reaching over to fasten Tori's seatbelt, "Don't be scared. I'm here, I'll protect you." Jade's hand finds Tori's and gives it a squeeze. Tori nods hesitantly but the scared look on her face doesn't vanish.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Jade."

Jade's eyes flick to Aiden, who turns in his seat and quickly snatches Tori's bag out of her hands, chucking it onto the passenger seat. He starts the car and drives out onto the street, his black hood pulled up. "What are you going to do now, huh? What's your plan now? You're going to kill us both?"

She feels Tori tightening her grip on her hand and shoots a quick glance at the scared girl beside her. She's trembling slightly, her fear getting the best of her. And although Jade doesn't really show it, inside of her, she's almost exploding. Fear and anger are settled deep within her and she really would like to scream at Aiden, demand that he lets them go but she knows her attempts would be fruitless. She has to keep calm. For Tori's sake. Aiden looks into the rearview mirror, his eyes fixing themselves on his little sister for a short moment before he concentrates on the road again. "I love you, you're my sister. How can you think I would kill you?"

"Well, you're a freaking psychopath so I think I have every reason to believe that."

"I'm not a psychopath," he growls, glancing at Jade again, "You keep accusing me of being something I'm not. Yeah, sure. Maybe I killed Melissa and Anna. But I didn't do it for fun! I-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You did it for _me_. You did it to _protect_ me."

"Yeah! I did it to protect you!" His voice grows louder as he accelerates, "As your big brother, that's my duty!"

Jade lets out an unbelieving laugh. She can't believe that he would think what he did, what he _does, _is right. Jade doesn't think she will get to him anymore. He's too absorbed in his perception of "protecting" her. She takes a deep breath, deciding to try a different approach. "Aiden," she softly calls, leaning forward to place a hand on his shoulder, "You're my brother. I love you but… I can't do this. What do you think will happen after tonight?" She watches him swallow harshly, his eyes steadily fixed on the road in front of him. "You are trying to kill my girlfriend. Why would you do that to me, Aiden? I love her, she makes me happy. Tori is… she's _so _important to me."

Her thumb starts to move up and down Aiden's shoulder, trying to calm him down. She risks a glance out of the window, seeing that they're about to drive out of the city. "Do you… Do you know how much you hurt mom?" He doesn't say anything so Jade continues. "She was devastated when she found out about Melissa and Anna, when she found out her own _son_ tried to kill Tori. Her daughter's girlfriend, the girl she adores. And dad, he-"

"Just stop it!"

Jade flinches, her hand flying away from Aiden's shoulder. Aiden inhales deeply. "I'll end this," he mumbles, more to himself than to anyone else, "Everything will get better."

"Nothing will get better."

Both pairs of blue eyes snap over to Tori, her shaky voice catching Aiden and Jade's attention. "If you kill me… nothing will get better. It will get _worse _if anything." Tori carefully watches Aiden, waiting for some kind of reaction from him. Her eyes quickly flick over to Jade, her heart almost painfully hammering in her chest. She shakes her head, silently telling her to keep her mouth shut, to stop talking, but Tori just _has _to try it. Maybe she'll be able to talk some sense into him. Tori focuses back on Aiden and runs her tongue over her dry lips, shuffling forward a little. "Do you honestly believe what you are doing is the right thing? Killing people just because you think they pose a problem? Killing me will destroy everything for you. Jade will hate you. Your parents will be even more disappointed in you than they already are. Do you really want that?"

Aiden suddenly yanks the wheel to the right, Tori and Jade holding on to each other in the back seat as Jade's brother turns onto a bumpy road, not even trying to slow down the car. "Aiden, what the fuck are you doing?! Slow down!"

He doesn't listen, if anything, he only drives faster, the car rocking from side to side and as Jade looks out of the window, all she can see in the dark are trees. Nothing but trees. _Trees? What the chiz? _The car suddenly jerks to a halt, sending all three of them flying forward a little. "Holy shit!" Jade gasps, her one hand tightly gripping the seatbelt that held her back from flying out of the front window, her other one nearly crushing Tori's. Aiden quickly unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car, slamming the door shut and Jade expects him to pull her and Tori out too, but all he does is stand outside, holding his head in his hands, then starting to pace back and forth. Jade shakes her head and slowly turns to Tori, still trying to regulate her breathing. Her head pressed against the headrest, her eyes closed and her hand that's not linked with Jade's holding on to the door, Tori takes in several deep breaths.

"Are you okay?"

Tori nods, her eyes opening, and turns towards Jade. "Yeah. Are you?"

"I'm fine." Jade turns her head towards the window again, frowning when she sees Aiden standing outside like they weren't sitting here in the car.

"What is he doing?" Tori quietly asks from beside her and Jade shakes her head. "I have no idea." She continues watching him, his body rigid as he pushes the hood off his head to run his hand through his hair. Jade's eyes widen as a thought strikes, her head quickly snapping back around to look at Tori. "Your phone! You… You took it with you, didn't you?"

Tori's own eyes widen too and she nods her head frantically. "Yeah! It's in my bag," her eyes snap to the front seat but she doesn't move an inch. "Jade, what are we-"

She doesn't get to finish her sentence because Jade already moves forward, her hand fishing around for Tori's phone. "God, how much junk do you have in here?"

"Seriously? I don't really think now's the right time for that, Jade."

"I'm just saying. Oh! Wait! I got it!"

Her fingers wrap around the phone and Jade retracts her arm when suddenly, the front door opens and Aiden's hand grabs her wrist, stopping Jade's movements. Jade freezes, her eyes snapping up to her brother. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?"

Jade's mouth opens but with Aiden looking at her like that, so _angry_, she just can't find any words inside her brain. Aiden scowls and pulls Jade's arm fully out of the bag, prying the phone out of his sister's grasp and chucking it back into the bag. He lets go of Jade's wrist and Jade slumps back into her seat. Aiden's eyes flick from Tori to Jade. "Get out now."

He gets out, opening the back door and Jade hesitantly climbs out but as Aiden tries to pull her away from the door, she stays firmly plastered on the ground and glares at her brother. "Don't touch her," she hisses and blocks Aiden from the door, turning around to help Tori out of the car. Aiden slams the door shut behind Tori and places his hand on Jade's back, lightly pushing her forward as they start to walk into the forest. "Don't do something stupid," Aiden says, reaching into his jacket to retrieve his knife, "You'd only regret it."

They keep walking in silence, Tori tightly clutching Jade's arm and Aiden's hand still on Jade's back. Jade glares at her brother as they walk up a steep hill but Aiden doesn't look at her, keeping his eyes straight ahead. "So what now, super villain? Are you going to lead us up to a cliff? Is there a stampede going to happen? Way to go, _Scar_."

"Save your jokes, Jade."

"Oh, why? I've got _a lot _of them, given the fact that Cat made me watch every stupid Disney movie that exists and personally, I think you're just as pathetic and stupid as those freaking Disney villains are."

Jade feels Tori nudge her shoulder and hears her mumble in her ear. "Stop, Jade. This isn't funny." But Jade doesn't listen, too angry, too scared and too tired to behave properly. "Ooh, or why don't you take us to the ocean, hm Aiden?" She looks up to him, his jaw tightly locked and his eyes set straight forward. "If you throw us in, maybe we'll meet Ursula _or _we'll find Nemo!"

Aiden is still silent, the knife still tightly gripped in his hand, his other hand still pushing Jade forward. "Jade, please stop," Tori whispers fearfully, wrapping her hands tighter around Jade's arm, "I'm scared."

"What Aiden? Did you swallow your tongue? Did the big bad guy forget how to speak?"

"Would you just _shut up_?!"

He swirls around and unwillingly yanks at Jade's arm, causing her to lose balance and stumble back. She falls to the ground, Tori not being able to hold her up. "Jade!" Tori quickly crouches down, her hands flying to Jade's arms. "Are you okay?" Jade ignores her girlfriend. She looks up at Aiden, who's rooted to the spot, his eyes wide and shocked as he stares at his sister. "I'm sorry, I really didn't-"

Jade's eyes turn towards Tori who already got up and Jade grabs her outstretched hand, letting Tori pull her back onto her feet. After brushing off the dirt from her jeans, Jade looks up and sends a glare in Aiden's direction. "You are such an idiot."

His eyes harden and his Adam's apple bops as he swallows. "We have to keep going."

He steps closer, taking a hold of Jade's arm again and pulling her to him. But he can't react as fast as he likes to when Jade's knee suddenly shoots up, hitting him in the groin. Aiden yells out in pain, the knife falling to the ground with a quiet thud and his hand releasing his sister's arm as he crouches down to the floor.

"Run!"

Tori obeys, her heart pounding so hard as she runs further into the woods. Jade shoots one quick look at her brother and gets ready to follow Tori, but Aiden's hand grabs her foot at the last moment. She falls, flat on her face, and her other foot tries to kick him but Aiden quickly dodges her.

"Seriously Jade? Do you really think that was a smart move?"

Jade struggles against Aiden's strong hold but she can't move, Aiden keeping her pinned to the ground. "Let _go_!"

"You are not gonna destroy this, do you understand?" His eyes flick up to look for any sign of Tori before he looks back at Jade, slightly twisting her arm until she cries out in pain. "I told you," he growls, digging his nails into her skin, "I'm not afraid to hurt you."

"Please Aiden, stop," she chokes but Aiden only twists her arm more, a searing pain shooting up her shoulder, "You're hurting me, please stop!"

The quiet rustling of leaves catches his attention and he looks up, smirking when he sees Tori running back to them. "Jade!" Underneath him, Jade whimpers in pain but Aiden doesn't loosen his grip.

"Let her go, you're hurting her!" Tori comes to a stop in front of them, her eyes wide as she flicks them from Aiden to Jade.

"Tori, please go! _Please_!"

Jade cries out in pain when Aiden twists her arm even more and she wonders how much it would take until it would crack. "Don't listen to her, Tori. You and me," he pauses and lets go of Jade, who gasps loudly and takes a hold of her arm, "We are going to finish this."

"Please Tor," Jade sobs and Tori's eyes flick down to the ground, Jade's tear filled eyes staring at her, "Just run. I'm fine. You can get help."

Aiden lunges forward suddenly but Tori quickly dodges his hand and after shooting one last look at Jade, she runs as fast as she can. She looks behind her and sees Aiden hot on her trail so she tries to run even faster, but she's starting to regret running this way because there is _no way_ she would get to the street from here. But she can't turn around, she has to get help, she has to shake off Aiden. Her heart is pumping so hard in her chest, her lungs burning and Tori really doesn't know how much longer she can keep this up. The trees suddenly disappear from her vision, only a few of them appearing in front of her and Tori realizes that she arrived at the top of the hill.

"No, no, no, no!" She risks a look behind her and catches Aiden not too far behind her, still trying to catch up to her. "This can't be happening," she gasps and frantically looks around for a way to escape but she's so dizzy and it's so dark, the light of the moon not enough for her to see properly. She tries to keep running but it's gotten _so hard_ to breathe, her lungs feeling like they're exploding if she doesn't rest soon.

Two strong arms suddenly grab her from behind and Tori lets out a scream. She tries to wiggle free but Aiden's hands have an iron grasp on her. "Really, you could have saved your energy, darling. Did you think I wouldn't catch up to you?" He chuckles breathlessly into her ear, causing for Tori to turn her head and squeeze her eyes shut.

"So are you gonna kill me now?" Her voice is shaky, tears starting to collect in her eyes but she refuses to let them fall. She wouldn't cry in front of this bastard. "You really are an idiot."

She grunts as Aiden pushes her to the ground, her hand scraping open. She looks up, trying to put on her fiercest glare despite the tears brimming in her eyes. Aiden doesn't make a move, much to Tori's surprise, but only stands in front of her and stares at her with hard eyes. "You really have nerves, Tori. Coming into my family, stealing Jade away from me. And now, you're calling me an idiot," he laughs, no humor in his voice. "That's a pretty stupid move of you, don't you think? Maybe I would have let you live."

"We both know that won't happen."

Aiden nods slightly, his mouth in a thin line and his eyes narrowed. "Yeah. You're probably right."

He steps closer, Tori shuffling back on the floor even though she really doesn't know why. She's done, it's going to be over, why prolong the inevitable? He reaches into his jacket, pulling out the jackknife he already had at his and Tori's encounter at Mr. West's house and looks at it, a frown adorning his face. "Do you remember this knife, Tori?"

He looks at her but Tori only glares at him. Aiden sighs. "You know… I didn't want to waste it on you, seeing as this is my favorite knife and I've built up a really strong feeling of dislike towards you." Tori snorts and looks away, swallowing harshly. "But I'm not going to go down there again to get the other one. You're way too annoying for me to handle any more of you."

He smiles and despite of what she swore to herself, a tear runs down her cheek and as she tries to blink them away, even more tears escaped. Aiden takes a step closer and tilts his head, the knife poised above Tori. "Any last words, my pretty darling?"

Tori tries to keep it in but a sob fights its way through her throat. "Go to hell."

He smirks and gives a salute. "With pleasure."

_It's over, Tori. You're going to die._ She closes her eyes, taking one last deep breath, possibly her last one, and her mind fills with a thousand images all at once, of her family and friends. She almost hears Trina's voice screeching in her ear, as she does her daily vocal warm ups, her mom and dad sitting at the breakfast table exchanging a look before a slight smile appears on their faces. She sees Andre and Cat and Robbie and Beck, even Sikowitz appears in front of her eyes, sipping from a coconut, Lane offering her some of his lotion and lastly… Jade. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes. Her lips, so soft and full. She's smiling, something so rare but so beautiful. It's the last thing she sees before she opens her eyes again, seeing Aiden smirking at her. He raises the knife higher but suddenly, his eyes widen and his mouth falls open as the knife falls from his hand and as he drops to his knees, he reveals Jade, her wide blue eyes staring at Tori in shock.


	11. Chapter 10

Her eyes seem to stare at nothing at all and she doesn't even seem to notice the paramedic who wraps a blanket around her shivering form. Tori wonders what she's thinking right now, what goes on in her head. Reluctantly, Tori tears her eyes away from Jade, smiling at the blonde woman who disinfected and stitched up her hand. Looking back at her girlfriend sitting a few feet away from her, she can't help but replay the events that took place just merely two hours ago.

_Jade's chest heaves up and down as she takes in harsh breaths through her mouth. Tori's eyes are still wide open, her brain not yet grasping on what just had taken place in front of her. A loud wheezing sound reaches both girl's ears and both of them look at the figure lying on the ground. Only now Tori sees the knife protruding from Aiden's back. Blood seeps out from the wound and Tori pushes out a shaky breath, shifting away from Aiden without taking her eyes off of him. Her eyes fill with tears, finally realizing that it's over, that she's still alive, that Jade had saved her. Tori looks up again and focuses her vision on Jade, whose rigid body stands glued to the spot, her eyes still resting on Aiden._

"_Jade?" _

_Tori's voice cracks slightly and Jade flicks her eyes over to her, her brows slightly drawn together and her lips parted. She opens her mouth as if she wants to say something but she ends up puffing out a breath, shaking her head. Without taking her eyes off of Tori, Jade begins walking towards her, careful not to touch Aiden. She kneels down, her eyes finding Aiden once again as she gently wraps her arms around Tori's body. Tori begins to cry, her tears soaking Jade's shoulder while her hold on Jade tightens. "Everything's okay," Jade hushes, her eyes still resting on her brother, "Don't be scared anymore. It's over. I got you."_

_Aiden slightly moves and Jade shuffles back a little, pulling Tori with her. He cranes his neck and his eyes find Jade's. "Jade?" His voice is weak, almost nonexistent. He squeezes his eyes shut and coughs, thick red blood running out the side of his mouth. Jade inhales sharply, squeezing Tori tighter. His eyes open again and he struggles to take a breath. "Jade…" he pleads, his voice a gurgling sound as he tries to fight all the blood that fills his mouth. Jade swallows her tears and shakes her head, a sob finding its way past her lips. _

"_I'm so sorry, Aiden."_

She killed him.

She killed her own brother. Jade still can't really grasp the fact that Aiden is gone, that he wouldn't come back again. She blinks a couple of times, her eyes hurting from looking at the same spot for so long. For the first time since the police and ambulance got here, Jade looks around herself. The flickering blue and red lights illuminate the hill, the scene in front of her resembling your typical crime scene. Out of the corner of her eyes, something white catches her attention so she turns her head to see two paramedics rolling a stretcher across the bumpy soil. Under the white sheet Jade is able to make out a body. She gulps.

Aiden.

"Jade?"

Jade slowly turns her head to where the voice came from and comes face to face with Mr. Vega. He shoots her a soft smile. "How are you doing, sweetheart?"

Her eyes flick all over his face but she can't get anything out. It's like her voice disappeared, her tongue and lips not being able to form words. She blinks and shakes her head, lifting her shoulders in a small shrug. Mr. Vega nods, smiling sympathetically. "Your mom is on the way. She'll be here soon. I made sure that you and Tori won't have to handle the police tonight. We can all go tomorrow. Together." Jade just nods at him and Mr. Vega hesitates. "Do you need anything?"

Jade pauses. Does she need something? She can't even think straight, her head feeling way too light. She wants to forget everything that happened tonight. She wants to get the little blood stain off of her hand that just wouldn't go away no matter how hard she rubbed at it and she wants her arm to finally stop hurting. But there was nothing Mr. Vega – or anyone for that matter – could do to make that happen so Jade shakes her head.

"I want to see my daughter!"

The panicked and loud voice of Jade's mother catches their attention and they flick their eyes over to Ms. West, a bulky police man blocking her body from going any further. "I'm sorry, but this is a crime scene. You can't just-"

"It's alright, Charlie," Mr. Vega speaks up as he walks over to them, nodding and shooting a tight smile at Ms. West. He flicks his head to where Jade is sitting and Jade's mother gives him a thankful smile before she rushes over to her daughter. She takes a seat beside her, raising a hand to brush a lock of hair from Jade's face.

"He's dead," Jade croaks and watches her mother's eyes fill with tears, "I didn't mean to but he… he wanted to kill her and… I didn't know what to do…"

"I know, honey."

"I just couldn't let him kill her, she's… I love her and I… I had to _do _something!"

Her vision blurs, tears rolling down her cheeks and a sob escaping her mouth, and she can barely see her mother's sad smile. "I'm sorry, I just _had _to, mom! I'm so, so sorry-" Her voice cracks, her body convulsing with sobs and she can't talk anymore, she can't think anymore. She feels her mother's arms wrap around her, holding her tightly and rocking her back and forth, making shushing noises into her ear. But she can't stop crying, her mom's soft voice and gentle caresses not helping her in the slightest as everything replays in her head.

The way he called her name for the very last time. His pleading voice. God, his voice.

"_Jade…"_

The blood, all the blood that kept pouring out of his back, that kept spluttering out of his mouth.

_Everything was red, so much red everywhere. _

_So much blood. There was _so_ much blood._

How his eyes found hers before they closed, before she realized that he would never look at her again.

"_I'm so sorry, Aiden."_

It's over. Everything is over.

...

"Tori!"

Tori barely made it through the front door when her mom's arms tightly envelope her, nearly squeezing the life out of her. "God, baby, we were so scared!" Holly pulls away and places her hands on Tori's arms, her tear filled eyes flicking all over Tori's body. "Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay? Do we need to bring you to the hospital?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Tori's dad speaks up and places his hands on his wife's and daughter's backs, "She's okay, honey. Let her sit down, hm?"

"Of course, I'm so sorry."

Tori weakly smiles at her mom and lets her lead her over to the couch, her eyes falling on Trina, her sister's hands tightly wrung together and her lips forming a shaky smile. "You're… you're okay, aren't you?" Trina's voice shakes a little and Tori smiles at her comfortingly.

"I'm fine, Treen. I'm okay."

Trina nods and when tears start to collect in her brown eyes, Tori is actually surprised to see her sister like that. The smile slips and a frown appears on Tori's face. She holds her arms out and Trina lets herself fall into the embrace, her arms tightly wrapping around Tori's neck. "Hey, don't worry. I'm fine, I promise. You don't need to cry."

"I wouldn't have known what to do without you, Tori. I was _so_ scared for you. If you had died, I-"

"Yeah, but I'm not dead," Tori pulls away and smiles, "Look at me, everything's still where it's supposed to be."

Trina laughs, nodding her head as she wipes her tears away. "Yeah. But I'm still prettier than you."

Tori rolls her eyes but smiles nevertheless. Trina winks at her little sister but then a more serious expression settles on her face. "So, that freak is dead?"

Tori's smile disappears and she looks at her hands. She slowly nods her head. "Yeah, he… he's dead. Jade stabbed him just before he could… kill me."

A gasp sounds from across the sofa and Tori lifts her head to look into the shocked face of her mother. Tori's dad had called his wife and Trina beforehand and told them that Aiden was dead and Tori was okay but he didn't tell them any details. "Jade killed him? That's… oh my God, that poor girl! I can't even imagine how… how she must be feeling right now..."

"She… she wasn't…" Tori trails off, not being able to find the right words. She feels tears gathering in her eyes as she thinks back to what happened after Jade's mom had arrived.

_Tori hesitantly steps closer to Jade, whose head is still buried in her mother's shoulder. Her back heaves up and down, her sobs so loud and strong that Tori almost fears that Jade wouldn't be able breathe anymore. "Jade, come on, you have to calm down," Tori hears Jade's mom say, her hand rubbing up and down Jade's back, "It's over, honey. You have to calm down."_

_But Jade's sobs only get stronger and when she pulls away from her mom, her eyes are wide in fear. "I- mom, please. I didn't, I really didn't-" Her words are barely comprehensive, her breath coming out in short gasps. Tori wants to help her, she wants to calm her down but she can't move. Her feet just wouldn't _move_ even though her brain and heart told them to, it's as if they are glued to the ground underneath her. _

_Two paramedics quickly rush over to Jade, one of them kneeling down in front of her and taking her face in his hands, shining a little flashlight into her eyes. The man tries to talk to her but everything Jade gets out is that she didn't mean it and that she's so sorry, still slightly gasping for air. The other man quickly opens the little white case he brought with them and takes out a syringe, filling it with a clear liquid._

"_It's a sedative shot," he explains to Jade's mom, handing the syringe to the guy kneeling in front of Jade, "It will help her calm down."_

_Ms. West only nods numbly, shifting to hold Jade still when the paramedic instructs her to and watches as the needle sinks into Jade's skin. "Shh, it's going to get better, sweetie," the paramedic soothingly says as he injects the liquid into Jade's body, "This will help you, I promise."_

_Jade doesn't object, watching the liquid leave the syringe and enter her body, her mouth still releasing uncontrollable sobs._

Tori sighs and shakes her head, blinking away her tears. "They gave her a sedative shot. She was… she couldn't breathe properly anymore and she just… she couldn't calm down so…"

It's silent, the only sound Tori's quiet sniffling when she wipes her eyes, until Trina speaks up. "Wow… but… she's okay though?"

Tori's head turns towards Trina and her eyebrows move down in confusion when she detects genuine worry in Trina's voice. Trina just shrugs at the look she receives from her sister. "What? I may not like Jade very much but I wouldn't want her to die or something. Besides, she saved my little sister's life. She _does_ get bonus points for that."

"Yeah, she's okay. Physically at least. Her arm is injured from where Aiden… held her down but… that's about it. Emotionally, it's a complete different story, though." Tori sighs and looks at her lap again. "I mean, tonight she has the sedative. But tomorrow, she'll have to face everything again. Everything will come back rushing in and… I'm just… so worried that she won't be able to handle it."

She shakes her head and pushes out a loud sigh. "I mean, everything what happened tonight was… it was just _horrible _for both of us but for Jade… she killed her own brother. Just to save my life."

The room falls into a heavy silence. No one really knows what to say, no one knows how to soothe Tori's worries because, well, Jade _did_ kill her brother. That's not something you can brush off of your shoulders that easily. "Well," Tori's dad speaks up, "it's late. Or… early. Tomorrow's going to be a rough day, you should get some sleep, Tori."

"Yeah," Tori says slowly, her eyebrows tugged down as she gets up from the sofa, "that's probably a good idea."

She gives her parents and Trina one last hug and, after also promising them that she would call for them when she needed anything, she slowly walks up the stairs. Tori is almost in a daze as she changes into her pyjamas and brushes her teeth, her brain still processing what happened tonight. She almost died. It's such an unreal thought, however, hadn't Jade been there right on time it would have been a cruel reality. She hopes Jade is okay right now but the sedative she got should've made sure that she'll sleep through the night. But Tori can't help but wish that she'd be there with her. She just wants to hold her, comfort her, make her feel better even though Tori knows it will take an awful lot of time for Jade to feel okay again. Tori slowly walks into her room, immediately climbing into her bed to snuggle into her comforters.

And with Jade's scent still lingering on her pillow, her eyes flutter shut, her exhausted body finally getting a chance to recover.

* * *

_A/N: Whew. You can't even imagine how hard it was to write this. I'm gonna need therapy after I finished this story._


	12. Chapter 11

Her eyes slowly open, blinking a couple of times when everything she sees blurs in front of her. Jade groans and lifts her hand to rub over her face, running it through her hair afterwards, before letting it fall back down. A sigh escapes her lips as she stares up at the ceiling. God, she almost forgot how good it feels when you sleep through the whole night without waking up once. Maybe now everything will get better. Now that Aiden…-

She freezes, her breath hitching.

Aiden is dead. She… she killed him. Jade pushes out a shaky breath when everything comes flooding back to her. She had seen Tori cowering on the ground with her eyes closed, Aiden standing in front of her, the knife poised high above her. Her right hand had felt so heavy, the knife in her hand pulling her arm down.

_She runs and runs, really hoping that this is the right way. "It can't be too late," she mumbles, willing herself to run faster, "Please, please, please Tori, hold on." A scream echoes through the woods. _Tori's _scream. "Fuck, no!" Jade tries to ignore the throbbing in her arm and runs faster. At least she knows now that she's running into the right direction. _

"_Any last words, my pretty darling?"_

_She can hear him, his repulsively sweet voice taunting Tori._

_A sob sounds and Jade abruptly stops when she sees them. "Go to hell." _

"_With pleasure."_

_Tori has her eyes closed and Jade can see the knife in Aiden's hand glittering in the moonlight. She knows she has to do something. Her eyes fall onto the heavy knife in her own hand that Aiden had forgotten to take with him. She swallows. _

_This is what she needs to do. _

_Without wasting another thought, Jade looks up again and tries to calm her breathing, creeping up on Aiden as silently and fast as she possibly could. And then, everything happens so fast. She lifts the knife with both of her hands, biting down on her lip as she rams it into his back with as much force as she can muster. A sickening sound can be heard as the knife sinks into Aiden's body and before Jade can really grasp what she just did, she lets go of the knife, her brother sinking to his knees and falling over with a thump._

It wasn't a dream. It really happened. After that, she had taken a crying Tori into her arms and watched on as her brother died in front of her. Jade sits up in her bed and runs a hand through her messy hair. When the girls didn't come back after storming out of the house last night, Jade's mother got worried and called Mr. Vega, just to make sure. The police had been able to track down Tori's phone thanks to a chip Tori's dad had made sure to implant into her phone after Aiden had disappeared all those weeks ago. Jade can still hear the sirens coming closer, Tori still in her arms, both of them sitting on the ground in complete silence. The blue and red lights of the ambulance and police cars flickering as they drove up the bumpy road until they reached Tori, Jade and Aiden, then immediately jumping out of their cars and storming up to them.

Jade couldn't really remember anything after that. Tori and her had been separated and the paramedics had treated her injured arm. She remembers Tori's dad talking to her and then… she was crying, sobbing, her mom tightly holding her in her arms. Jade remembers the fear, the panic and the _guilt _bubbling up in her body, all at the same time and then there was… there was a needle and after that… everything got better. _"Shh, it's going to get better, sweetie. This will help you, I promise."_

She was completely out of it after that. Everything that happened after the shot kicked in is just… merely a blur to her now. Jade exhales shakily, letting her head fall into her hands. Her entire body aches and everything still feels so unreal. She almost expects Aiden to sit downstairs at the breakfast table, brightly smiling at her and asking what she has planned for the day, if she would meet up with Cat or Tori or if she would-

Her head snaps up and her eyes flick all over her dark room. "Tori!" She quickly throws the blanket off of her body, ignoring the pain in her arm, and scrambles out of bed, almost falling over and hitting her head in her hurry. "Tori…" Jade mumbles her name over and over again as she rips her door open and runs down the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt when she sees her mother sitting on the sofa in the living room. Her mom turns around and smiles slightly, her eyes red and swollen. She gets up and slowly walks over to Jade.

"Jade. How are you feeling?"

Jade shakes her head, everything in her mind right now being Tori. "Where's Tori? Is- Is she okay? Where is she? I need to see her!"

"Calm down. Don't worry, Tori is fine." Jade shakes her head slightly but doesn't object when her mom takes her by her shoulders and makes her sit down. "You will see her later. She's fine, I promise."

They both are silent for a while, Jade's mom sitting down next to Jade and hesitantly reaching over to grab her daughter's hand. She almost expects Jade to rip her hand away but, much to her surprise, she doesn't seem bothered by it. "Jade," she calls softly but Jade keeps looking straight ahead, "You should eat something. We have to go to the police later and… you just… you should really eat something."

Jade takes a deep breath and shakes her head. She blinks and looks down to the floor, retracting her hand from her mother's and getting up. "No, I'm not hungry. I think… I think I'll just take a shower and get dressed and… then we can go."

"But-"

"I'll be in the shower," she says without looking back and slowly makes her way upstairs. Jade's mom watches her go and then sighs, closing her eyes and letting herself fall back on the couch.

…

Her teeth nibble at her bottom lip as Tori paces up and down the floor of the police department. Her sneakers squeak loudly when she quickly turns around, her eyes flying to the door to look for any sign of Jade. She sighs loudly, her hand disappearing in her mass of brown hair.

"Tori, calm down," Tori's eyes flick to her father, "They will be here soon. Don't worry."

"I know, I just…" She sighs loudly and looks away from her dad, "I want to see her."

Her mom smiles sympathetically. "We know, honey."

Just then, the doors open. Tori's breath hitches when her eyes meet sad blue ones. She comes closer but Tori stays where she is, her eyes never leaving Jade's. Jade pushes out a breath and walks faster, her eyes _so_ desperately looking into Tori's and when she finally reaches her, she throws her arms around Tori's neck, tightly holding on to her. "Hey," Tori breathes, closing her eyes and tightly wrapping her arms around Jade, "Are you okay?"

It's a rather stupid question, Tori thinks. Given the current circumstances, _of course _she _isn't_ okay. Tori almost wishes for Jade to scoff or make a sharp remark but it never comes. All Tori feels is Jade's head nodding against her shoulder and her arms tightening around her neck. Jade pulls away, her watery eyes searching Tori's face before she places her hands on either side of her head and pulls Tori towards her, softly pressing their lips together. When Jade pulls away, she lets out a shaky sigh and rests her forehead against Tori's. "I'm so glad you're okay," she mumbles, her eyes tightly closed. Tori pulls back and smiles, tilting her head when Jade opens her eyes again.

"Are you ready for this?"

Jade shrugs and presses her lips together. "I guess. I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Tori's dad slowly approaches the two girls, giving both of them a comforting smile. "Can we go?" He takes in the nods from his daughter and her girlfriend and locks his eyes with Jade's. "Don't be afraid. It's going to be over before you know it. And I'm going to be in there with both of you, okay?"

Jade nods, forcing out a light smile before she turns to Tori, who gives her an encouraging look and takes her hand. Together, they follow Tori's dad, their mother's not too far behind.

…

Jade slowly lets herself sink into the hard plastic chair next to her mother with a sigh, her fingers tightly wrapped around the Styrofoam cup in her hands. She takes a slow sip from her coffee, grimacing at the taste of it. _Most disgusting coffee I've ever drank. _Nevertheless, she takes another sip and lets her eyes wander to the room where she had been only merely an hour ago. Now, Tori is sitting behind the closed door, telling them her take on the whole thing. Of course Mr. Vega is in there too, just like he had been with Jade. It was almost… draining to remember everything, to _tell _them everything. But Mr. Vega made sure to make it as easy as possible on her. He didn't push her when she grew quiet and he gave her the time she needed when she was expected to go into full detail. It had helped that he had been there with her but it didn't make it completely okay.

She turns her head towards her mom, who is absorbed into a mumbled conversation with Mrs. Vega. Jade takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, her fingers flexing against the hot cup in her hands. What would happen now? Would she have to go into… youth detention or whatever the sugarcoated word for "prison for teens" is? God, she sure hopes she doesn't. This… _Everything_ was already too much for her and if she would have to sit behind bars, Jade is sure she would go completely nuts. Her eyes snap up. But what if she really has to go to prison? She killed someone. She killed her brother, that's not something you could just… let slide away that easily. Panic rises up inside of her but she quickly manages to calm down again when she sees the door on the other side opening. Tori steps out, an uncomfortable looking smile on her face as she shakes the hand of the detective, bidding her goodbyes. She turns around, her tired eyes finding Jade's. She raises her eyebrows and her eyes widen in annoyance as she pushes out a harsh breath, starting to walk towards Jade.

"God, this was so horrible," she sighs as she plops down in a seat next to Jade, leaning her head against the wall behind her. Jade doesn't utter a single word, settling for watching her girlfriend. Tori, feeling Jade's eyes on her, turns her head and brown meets blue once again. A sad smile creeps up on the brunette's face and her hand reaches out to link with Jade's. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Empty blue eyes seem to stare right through her and Tori almost thinks she didn't even hear her but then, Jade blinks and shrugs her shoulders. "I'm hungry."

"Oh," Tori smiles and lifts her head from the wall, sitting up straight, "Then I guess we have to get you something to eat, huh?"

Jade nods slowly, her eyes finding her and Tori's interlocked hands. Tori's thumb begins to move back and forth on Jade's pale skin and Jade watches on, almost hypnotized by the calming motions. Although her body is present, sitting here between her mother and girlfriend, her mind seems to think this is all a dream, an alternate reality from which she'll wake up soon enough. Everything seems to be fuzzy, the lines of everything blurring in front of her eyes and Jade just feels so… out of it.

"_Jade…"_

His voice, Aiden's voice. She just can't forget the way it sounded or the way his eyes pleaded with her.

"_Jade…"_

Did he want her to save him? _Should _she have gotten help? It probably wouldn't have helped either way. There was so much blood, flowing out of his back, out of his mouth. There wouldn't have been a chance in hell that the ambulance would have arrived in time. But she should have at least _tried_, he was her brother for God's sake, maybe she could have saved him. Maybe-

"Jade."

A light shove to her shoulder brings her head back into here and now and she blinks away the memories, the _what if's _and_ maybe's_ and looks up into the face of a worried Tori. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I… yeah… I am."

It doesn't really seem to convince Tori very much – understandably so – and her dark brown eyes warily flick back and forth between Jade's. "Are you sure? I called your name but you weren't reacting and-"

An irritated sigh makes Tori stop talking. "I'm _positive_, Tori. Alright?"

"Okay… I was just asking." The concerned look in her eyes doesn't vanish, her eyebrows still tightly tugged down and her mouth pressed into a thin line. Tears start to collect in Jade's eyes even though she doesn't know why, why _now_, why _here_. Her eyes tightly close, her lungs taking in a shaky breath and she's sure that Tori is still staring at her with her worried eyes, wondering what's wrong with her. Jade shakes her head and after she makes sure that no tear would escape, she opens her eyes to look back at Tori.

"Please, can we just… get out of here?"

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, sure. I'm just gonna… make sure that we're done here… Okay?"

Jade nods, not trusting her voice right now. "Okay," Tori breathes with a smile and stands up from her chair, walking over to her dad. Jade watches her go and talk to her father, the lump in her throat growing and her teeth capturing her lip. She doesn't want to stay here any longer. It makes her uncomfortable, it makes her feel like she's a criminal, just waiting for someone to come and handcuff her before leading her into a cell. When Tori finally comes back, a small smile on her pretty face, Jade gets up from her chair and raises hopeful eyebrows. "We're all done for now," A relieved sigh tumbles from Jade's mouth. Tori smiles lovingly, reaching her hand out to run her fingers through Jade's dark locks.

"Let's get you home, baby."

…

She hates to be alone.

It's just too quiet, too… lonely. She quietly chuckles to herself, shaking her head. How fast things could change. Silence always had been something she treasured, something she looked forward to after a long day at school, for example. There was just something about being alone in a room, your own breathing the only sound you could hear and your thoughts the only thing that mattered in that moment, that was unbelievingly calming. But now… Jade just hates to be alone. Even if it's just for a short while. She hopes Tori will be back soon, Jade already thinks she takes _way_ too long for simply brushing her teeth and changing into her pyjamas. She herself had been as fast as lighting, given the fact that, well, she had been _alone _in the bathroom and that means she had been alone with her thoughts. And that's definitely something she wants to avoid for as long as she could. She doesn't want to think because that would mean she would have to face everything. The guilt, the fear, the… loss. Everything. But she doesn't have a choice, Tori's taking an awful long time and her brain works on its own to make her as miserable as possible. It tells her that she could have done something else, something which didn't involve killing someone. She could have saved Tori in a different way but, please, what other option did she have? She _tried _talking to him but he didn't listen.

_Well maybe he would have listened, had you tried it again. _

No, he wouldn't have. He probably would have laughed in her face or told her that he was just doing this to protect her and then, he would have rammed the knife into Tori's heart. It wouldn't have helped one bit if she would have talked to him again. Tori would be dead and she would be heartbroken.

_So what? You're saying that you aren't heartbroken now? What kind of cold hearted bitch are you?_

Jade squeezes her eyes shut. This is too much, she couldn't deal with this right now.

_Yeah sure, Jade. Run away from everything, just like you always do. But you have to face this sooner or later._

The tears behind her eyelids try to find her way through, but she wouldn't let them. She lets out a short laugh when she realizes that she's been arguing with _herself_ the whole time, trying to convince herself that she did the right thing. She was _definitely _going crazy. Her door squeaks open but Jade doesn't open her eyes just yet. Tori's bare feet quietly pad against the floor and a moment later, Jade feels the bed sink a little beside her. A warm hand creeps along her back until it completely envelopes her and Tori's chin rests on her shoulder as the twosome sit on Jade's bed in utter silence.

"The last time we were here together… we started fighting just because I was being stupid."

Tori blinks a couple of times, surprised that these are Jade's first words since five minutes. She doesn't really know if she's supposed to answer or say something but when Jade begins to talk again, Tori settles for listening. "I really didn't mean it," her voice is so quiet, so unlike Jade, her eyes still staring straight ahead, "That you were the reason this all spun out of control, I mean. You are not. It was all me."

"No. No, don't blame yourself, Jade." Tori quickly lifts her chin from Jade's shoulder and softly turns Jade's head so that her eyes could meet hers. "Don't do that. It's not your fault."

Jade's eyes are unbelieving as she shakes her head at Tori. "Of course it is. Don't you get it? If I wouldn't have gotten so crazily paranoid that Aiden would want to kill you, everything could be different now. I would have never hurt you the way I did. Aiden would still be alive. I wouldn't have done all those _horrible _things."

"Jade, everything you did was out of love."

Jade chuckles bitterly. "Yeah. That's a nice little way to dance around the fact that I'm not better than Aiden. That I'm a killer too."

Tori's eyes widen and she quickly reaches out to take Jade's hands in hers. "No Jade, no, no, no. You're nothing like him, okay? He was sick! You didn't want to kill him, we all know that. You did it to protect me." Jade sniffles and Tori lifts one hand to tangle it in black hair. "You did it to save my life."

The desperate way Jade's teary eyes stare at her really gets the best of Tori and she just wants to take her pain away from her. She wants to help her _so _badly. Her hand that's tangled in Jade's hair pull her head towards her, her other hand letting go of Jade's hand to wrap her arm around her waist. Tori feels Jade's warm tears falling onto the skin of her neck and when Jade speaks, her voice is muffled. "It's so hard, Tori. I can't do this, it hurts so much."

"I know, baby."

Jade pulls away all of sudden and gets up from the bed, her back facing Tori, and all Tori can do is watch her helplessly. She's pulling at her hair and Tori quickly strides over to her, grabbing her upper arms and pulling Jade close to her. "Calm down, baby. Please calm down."

Her breathing quickens, her heart hammering in her chest. She turns around and faces Tori, barely able to see her through her blurry vision. "Tori, please. Please, please, please forgive me."

Everything is building up inside of her. Aiden's death, the way she acted towards him, the things she said to Tori to keep her away. It all comes together, crushing her insides to the point where she almost fears that she would die because of all the guilt foaming up.

"What are you-"

"I didn't mean what I said in the janitor's closet. I didn't mean any of it. Please Tori, I love you. I love you."

She's gripping at Tori, holding on to her as if her life depended on it. And maybe, in some way it does. Her tears don't stop to spill from her eyes and she's almost gasping for air when Tori pulls her into her arms, the sight of a breaking Jade almost too much for her. "Shh, shh, shh. It's alright, it's gonna be okay," she whispers, her hand softly running up and down the length of Jade's heaving back, "Shh. Calm down. I'm here. I love you."

Tori keeps holding her, she keeps whispering calming words into her ear until Jade's harsh sobs turn into small hiccups, and then even the small hiccups completely disappear. Tori doesn't let go of her though, she doesn't stop her hand from rubbing her back and she softly places a kiss in Jade's hair. "Make it better, Tori," she hears Jade mumble into her shoulder, her usual so strong and melodic voice sounding completely weak and shattered. Tori closes her eyes, nodding against Jade's head although she knows that Jade probably needs way more than her to deal with this whole situation.

"I will. I promise."


	13. Chapter 12

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. But even though almost five weeks passed since that faithful night on the hill, things were not getting better.

Not even a little bit.

The guilt Jade was feeling was almost eating her alive and no one – not even Tori – had been able to really help her. Her days were mostly spent with lying in bed, sometimes alone, sometimes together with Tori, just letting her eyes stare at the ceiling and thoughts wander. The times when Tori actually _did_ manage to get her out of bed, even out of the house, Jade was barely there, at least not with her head. She didn't break down so frequently anymore though, which Tori doesn't necessary see as a good thing. At least she showed some emotion by crying but ever since Aiden's funeral… everything had just completely… stopped. She hadn't managed to stay for the entire ceremony. In the middle of it she had got up and just went home, without saying anything. She had cried that night for the last time, spending the entire night curled up in Tori's arms.

Luckily though, Jade didn't have to deal with the police anymore. They filed the case away, declaring that Jade didn't have another choice, that she had acted in self-defense. In the first week after Aiden's death, reporters had swarmed all around Jade and Tori whenever they left for school or just simply went outside, desperately wishing for them to give them an interview. Both Jade and Tori refused to say anything, trying their hardest to ignore them but that didn't stop papers to print their own take on the story. Headlines like _'17 year old kills her schizophrenic brother' _or _'Love until Death: Girl saves her girlfriend from her murderous brother' _were on almost every front page. Tori had been fuming whenever an article like this turned up, labeling the journalists as _"nasty vultures who probably have never been loved in their life and who take amusement out of stomping on other people's feelings."_ On the upper side though, that had tickled a smile out of Jade, seeing as it always amused her when Tori got mad and insulted other people.

But seeing Jade smile became even lesser than before and everyone around the dark haired girl became more worried with every day that passed. Which brought them to where they are now: Jade, Tori and both of Jade's parents sitting in the West living room, discussing the best way Jade could get better.

Therapy.

"No way in _hell_ am I going to therapy!"

An exasperated sigh sounds from across the room as Jade's father massages the bridge of his nose. "Language, Jade."

Jade scoffs. "Fuck language! I'm not a nutcase! I don't _need _therapy."

The soft touch of a hand on her thigh brings Jade to snap her head towards Tori. The brunette calls her name cautiously, her eyes silently telling her to calm down but Jade only shakes her head in disbelief. "What, you're agreeing with them? What is wrong with you?!"

"Jade," At the sound of her name, Jade snaps her eyes over to her mother, "There's no reason to snap at Tori. We all want to help you but you have to accept that we can't do it alone." Jade scoffs and shakes her head, crossing her arms and turning away. "It's only normal that you feel the way you feel. No one blames you but _you_ have to stop to blame _yourself_ too! You have to talk about it, it will help you!"

"I don't need to go to a _shrink _to talk," she hisses and ignores the tears that collect in her mom's eyes and the way her father looks down to the floor, his body slumped in exhaustion.

"Jade, please," Tori's voice is quiet and Jade hesitantly turns her head back towards her. Her brown eyes are pleading with her but Jade tries to ignore the little tug at her heart Tori's look causes. "Whenever I try to talk to you about Aiden, you shut me out. You know, it's okay if you don't want to talk to _me_ about him, I completely understand that. But you refuse to talk to your mom or to Beck or anyone else and it's just… it's not good for you to keep everything bottled up." Tori sighs and when she sees Jade's eyebrows tugging down and her eyes softening, she knows she almost got her where she needed her to be. "Please, Jade. I want you to get better. I love you, please do it for me. Do it for _you_."

Jade sighs and looks down at her hands. She hates it when Tori pulls that 'I'm so worried about you, I might die' card. She always gets her with it and she knows it. It just isn't fair. She rolls her eyes and loudly sighs. "Okay! Fine, I'll do it." Happy smiles break out onto her mom's and Tori's faces, her dad just nodding in contentment. "But I have some conditions," she pauses and her mom nods eagerly.

"Yeah, whatever you want."

"I don't want to go to some… _dinosaur. _If he or she isn't under sixty then I'm not going," she watches her mom nod and continues, "Secondly, I don't want… group sessions or whatever. I'm not going to sit with ten others in a circle and talk about my feelings. And lastly, if the therapist is some freaky weirdo, I'm not going to go there ever again."

"Okay," her dad speaks up, nodding his head, "those are all reasonable conditions. We can arrange that."

Jade nods slowly and begrudgingly accepts the hug and kiss Tori offers.

_Well… a shrink it is then._

…

Jade shifts in the plushy seat and lets her eyes wander around the waiting room of the psychologist's office. Flowers and two stacks of magazines are neatly placed on the little table in the middle of the room, posters concerning the fight of depression, anxiety and other psychological illnesses hanging on the walls. She's the only one sitting here and Jade considers getting up and leaving. No one has to know. But then she thinks about Tori and how disappointed she would be in her. So she stays seated, even though she would rather be stuck in a room with Sinjin and his creepy sock puppets.

"Jade West?"

Jade turns her head, a tall man with dark brunette hair and black rimmed glasses standing in the doorway. He smiles and raises expectant eyebrows at Jade, his light grey-bluish eyes slightly reminding her of Aiden at the first glance. _Well, that's a good start._ She slowly gets up from her seat, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder and taking his outstretched hand in hers. "Hey, I'm Dr. Neil Fitzgerald. You can call me Neil."

His smile is friendly and he looks really young, Jade thinks, couldn't be older than thirty. His hair is pushed back, a light stubble on his chin and cheeks and Jade has to admit, he's really handsome. For a shrink at least. "Great, I'm Jade."

He nods, letting go of her hand and motioning towards his office. "Shall we?"

She rolls her eyes, walking past him. "Whatever."

Whereas the waiting room was really bright, with white lamps, cream colored walls and light orange plushy chairs, Neil's office is actually pretty dark. There's mostly brown, a few blotches of subtle red and grey here and there. It's nice, comfy, but it is still a stupid shrink. Neil closes the dark wooden door behind them and spreads his arm, motioning to the couch. "Have a seat."

"Just to make things clear," Jade shoots him a pointed look while sitting down on the big sofa, "I'm _sitting _the whole time. I'm not gonna lie down."

Neil smiles – God, he always smiles, it starts to annoy Jade – and holds his hands up as he sits down in the armchair across from Jade. "That's alright. You don't have to do anything you don't wanna."

Jade nods stiffly, crossing one leg over the other and looking around the office. "So, where do you want to start? Is there something you want to know or…" He trails off and looks at her patiently.

"No. I don't."

"O-kay. Well… so tell me a little about yourself. I hear you attend Hollywood Arts? That's pretty cool, what do you go there for?"

An irritated sigh is pushed past Jade's lips as she focuses her attention on the slight breeze that drifts through the open window, slightly rustling the curtains. "Mostly for directing, writing and acting. I also sing though."

He hums in approval. "That's cool. Do you dance?"

"Not really. I _can_ dance but… it's not something I strive to do."

"I see. Well, at least you can dance. I can barely put one foot in front of the other."

"What a shame," Jade mumbles. Neil slightly nods and presses his lips together. The girl's mother had told him that she was a little… difficult at times so he decided to try to make a casual approach. But apparently that isn't really Jade's cup of tea either. Taking a look at the notes he put down in the chat he had with Ms. West, he smiles and looks back up. "And your mom told me about Tori. You met her at your school?"

Her head snaps back to Neil, her eyes nearly drilling holes into his head. "I don't want to talk about Tori." Neil is slightly taken aback but he tries not to let it show. "Oh. Okay. I was just really interested because your mom told me you have a pretty interesting relationship. Not your typical-"

"Yeah, because my _mother _knows so much about me and Tori." She rolls her eyes and turns her head away again. This is going nowhere. She doesn't want to talk to him. Not about Tori and not about Aiden. What comes next? Does he want to dig up her daddy issues?

"I didn't want to step on your feet in any way," He watches her carefully, his eyes flicking all over Jade's face, "And if you don't want to talk to me, it's fine. But maybe… I don't know… you could give me a chance, don't you think?"

Jade looks back at him. He smiles and Jade puts her elbow on the armrest, resting her chin on her fist. They sit in silence for a while, both staring at each other. Jade narrows her eyes when Neil doesn't look away and the light smile on his face still doesn't vanish. "So, _Neil_," she puts special emphasis on his name and his smile only seems to widen as he raises his eyebrows, "How old are you?"

The smile slightly dampens, if only for a short moment. He couldn't have thought she'd make it that easy for him and start pouring her heart out, could he? "I'm almost 34," he smiles and confirms it with a nod.

"Oh, really? You look way younger than that."

"I do? Well, I take that as a compliment."

"Yeah, you really shouldn't. This was just me doubting your qualifications."

"Oh. Well, there's my diploma," His finger is pointed at a framed paper hanging on a wall behind his desk, "if you want to take a look?"

"Nah. It's alright. After all I did want to go to a _young _shrink."

He breathes out a light laugh. "Ah, well… Personally I prefer to be called a therapist... or psychologist. Or you know… psychotherapist. Whatever sounds best to you."

Jade slightly narrows her eyes. "Is this supposed to tell me something? Does it make you uncomfortable when I call you a shrink? Because if it does," she pauses and shrugs her shoulders, "Good." She watches him shift in his seat, the smile on his face becoming a little bit tight and uncomfortable and Jade must admit, it amuses her to no end to get such a reaction out of him. It reminds her a little of Tori and all the times she had purposefully said or done something just to make her squirm. She mostly did it before they began dating but she would still do it occasionally now. Jade just _loved_ making people uncomfortable. An unwilling smile makes its way onto her face but Jade quickly takes on an indifferent expression when she sees Neil looking at her curiously, the uncomfortable looking smile transforming itself into a real one again. Jade rolls her eyes and clears her throat, looking away again. "So what now? What do you have planned for today, _shrink?"_

Neil places his elbows on his knees and leans forward, ignoring Jade's nickname for him, and his face takes on a serious expression. "I just want us to talk. About whatever you want. About… your brother maybe." She stays quiet and doesn't really acknowledge him so he continues. "Your mother told me… you are feeling really bad. That's why you came here in the first place, didn't you?" He stops, hoping to get an answer out of her but Jade doesn't utter a single word, still staring away from him. "Do you want to tell me about Aiden a little bit?"

Jade is quiet but eventually she sighs and shakes her head. "Didn't you read the paper? Those morons printed the whole story, I don't think there's a need for me to tell you everything again."

"I did read the papers. But… they probably wrote a lot of crap, didn't they?"

"How would I know?"

"Didn't you read them?"

Silence. "Not all of them."

"But you read _some_ of them? How did you feel when you read them?"

Jade rolls her eyes and scoffs. Her eyes find Neil's and for the first time since Neil had met her, her eyes aren't hard and threatening. They are still guarded but somehow they're… softer and appear more vulnerable. "Seriously? You're going to use these cliché sentences? How do you _think _I felt?" She shakes her head, takes a deep breath and looks down at the table standing between her and Neil. "It was… horrible. Most of the articles displayed Aiden as some kind of monster or… wrote that he was bipolar or schizophrenic. They didn't even know that! They didn't know if he really was schizophrenic or bipolar. And he wasn't a monster either, I mean…" she sighs, Neil listening to her with raw attention, "He wasn't always like that. He could be so sweet. Sometimes he was just… my brother. Not a killer or a crazy person. Just my brother."

The silence after she stops speaking brings Jade to lift her eyes at Neil. She realizes that she started talking to him, that she told him more than she wanted to in the first place. Her plan was to come here, not say anything and go home again, telling Tori and her parents that she doesn't want to go anymore because she feels uncomfortable or because the guy was a freak. But Neil isn't a freak, he's far from it actually, and she doesn't feel uncomfortable at all.

Neil's lips form a faint smile and although it still kind of annoys Jade a little that he almost never stops smiling, she can kind of… tolerate it. And Neil seems to notice that too. "Jade, I think this is the start of a wonderful therapy session."

…

The doorbell sounds and Mrs. Vega quickly strides over, opening the door to reveal Jade standing there.

"Oh, Jade! I thought Tori was going over to your house," she steps back to make room for Jade to enter and then closes the door behind her daughter's girlfriend. Jade's eyebrows furrow. "Oh. Is she still home or did I miss her?"

"No, no, she's still home," Holly turns towards the stairs and yells for Tori to come down. When she turns back towards Jade, a soft smile is playing on her lips. "How are you? Wasn't today your first day at therapy?"

Jade nods and surprisingly smiles back at Mrs. Vega. "Yeah. It was pretty good actually. I think I'll keep going."

"That's good. I'm sure it will make you feel better. You know, talking to somebody who… isn't involved in everything." Just then Tori comes skipping down the stairs, her hands occupied with pulling her hair out from under the collar of her jacket. "What mom? I have to go to-" she breaks off when her eyes fall on Jade standing with her mother in the middle of the living room. "Jade. What are you doing here? I was just on my way over to you."

Tori makes her way over, narrowing her eyes at Jade. "You _were_ at therapy… weren't you?" Tori can't help but be a little surprised when she sees Jade roll her eyes and cross her arms in typical Jade fashion. "Of course I was. I promised you, didn't I?"

Tori nods slowly, carefully scrutinizing Jade's face and posture. Her shoulders aren't slumped like they always were in the last couple of weeks and her eyes don't look all that sad anymore. Plus, she didn't go straight home but came to her house _on her own_, without Tori needing to push her. Dragging Jade out of the house had almost been impossible for Tori and she had been almost positive that she would go home straight after therapy. _Maybe the therapy is already helping her…_ "So… was it good?"

Tori leads Jade over to the couch and shrugs off her jacket while her mother disappears upstairs, leaving the two girls alone. Jade sighs, letting herself fall back against the backrest. "It was okay. Not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Does that mean that you'll go back?" A slow smile creeps up on Tori's face, her eyebrows rising expectantly. Jade is silent and watches Tori for a moment and then she rolls her eyes. "Yeah," she drags the word out and Tori's smile widens, "I guess I will."

The light squeal coming out of Tori's mouth startles Jade and she barely has time to comprehend that Tori's arms have wrapped themselves around her neck. She feels Tori's smiling lips press a kiss against her cheek and she can't stop the small smile from appearing on her face at her girlfriend's excitement. "I'm so happy, baby. You'll get better, I'm sure of it."

Tori pulls away and watches as Jade nods hesitantly. The brunette bites her lip, mentally weighting out if it would be okay for her to ask Jade questions about the therapy. "Um… what did you talk about with him?"

A sigh goes past her lips, her shoulders lifting in a shrug and Tori's eyes widen, taking Jade's actions the wrong way. "I'm sorry, Jade. I didn't want to pry, of course you don't need to tell me anything. I was only-"

"We didn't talk about much," Jade interrupts her calmly, "He asked about you, about Aiden but I didn't really want to talk about it so we… mostly talked about other stuff. I mean, I did tell him a little about Aiden but… I didn't want to… continue and he understood. So we talked about stupid, unimportant stuff like… I don't know. He told me he really likes literature, poems and stuff and, well," Jade sighs loudly, lifting her hands and letting them slap back down onto her lap, "That was about it."

Tori smiles, shifts closer and softly runs her hand over Jade's forearm. "So you're getting along with him? With…" She trails off with a furrow of her brow and tilts her head at Jade. "What's his name again?"

"Neil. Yeah. I guess he's a cool dude." Jade sighs and shifts closer to Tori, wrapping her arms around her waist and her head snuggling into the crook of Tori's neck. "He reminds me of you a little bit."

Tori leans back on the couch and wraps her own arms around Jade's body. "Really? How so?"

"You know… he has that permanent smile on his face, just like you, and it's kind of annoying," Jade stops and places a small kiss on Tori's neck when she hears Tori whine and feels her fingers lightly pinching her arm, "And he's really persistent which, I guess, you have to be if you're a shrink. He doesn't seem to mind me being mean to him very much either." Her eyes close and she breathes out a long, tired breath. "I think you'd be a good psychologist."

"I'll take it in consideration," Tori whispers and gently presses her lips against Jade's forehead. A quiet hum is the last thing Tori hears from Jade before her breathing evens out and she falls asleep in Tori's arms.

* * *

_A/N: Just a couple of things:_

_I actually planned to post this chapter later, given the fact that the next chapter isn't finished yet. But I can work best when I have a little pressure on me so I thought I'd post it to get my ideas flowing again.  
_

_Secondly: I have a couple of "Deleted Scenes" which didn't make it into the final chapters. Do you want me to post them at the end of the story?  
_

_And thirdly... No, I don't know what else I wanted to say. I forgot *sigh*. Oh, well... then I'm going to say: Reviews are very welcome ;)  
_


	14. Chapter 13

"Jade! Well hello there, favorite patient!"

Neil smiles brightly and flicks his head towards his office. He quickly disappears inside and Jade follows with an eye roll. "You know, I'd prefer it if you don't call me _patient_," she says as she walks past Neil who holds the door to his office open for her, "It makes it sound as if I'm sick."

Jade sinks down onto the squishy sofa, Neil closing the door and quickly sitting down in his usual seat across from Jade. "Will you stop calling me shrink?"

Jade's hands smooth out her skirt, her eyes narrowed in thought when she looks up at Neil. "Probably not."

"Then I'm gonna keep calling you patient, _patient_," He grins and wiggles his eyebrows goofily, the eye roll he gets from Jade not really affecting him considering he knows her well enough to know that it's not meant in a mean way. He had learned a lot about the dark haired girl in front of him in the last three weeks. They see each other two times a week and every time Neil learns something new. He knows she likes to keep people at a certain distance when she doesn't know them well, and even when she knows them for a long time. She likes horror movies and all kinds of gory stuff, her favorite movie being 'The Scissoring'. She's very self-conscious even though she likes to hide that behind harsh comments. And her eyes… Her eyes are the most expressive eyes he had ever seen in his life. It amazed him sometimes, when he would look into them, that he would be able to see everything she was feeling and so much more. Aiden hadn't really been the topic in their conversations though, at least not in the way Neil would like him to be. Jade told him about her childhood, stories about her brother when she was a little girl and she even told her about the two girls he murdered. But she still refused to talk about the night she killed him and she also wasn't too fond of talking about Tori.

"Well, then at least don't lie to me and say I'm your favorite." Her legs cross, her elbow finding its usual place on the armrest and her chin resting on her hand.

"Who says I'm lying when I say you're my favorite? You are. It's always really entertaining to talk to you." It really isn't a lie. He likes to talk to Jade. Her personality is really, really complex, so different from most other people. She's very smart and her tongue is always sharp, a snide remark or an insult always lying on the tip it. Jade seems a little surprised when she hears his sincere tone but quickly brushes it off and acts as if it doesn't really interests her.

"Oh great. I feel honored," she says with a light eye roll, but the corners of her mouth lift in a barely visible smile.

"Okay," Neil laughs and readjusts the glasses on his nose before he raises his eyebrows and hesitantly continues. "I actually have a topic I want to talk to you about today. And I really hope you're willing to."

Jade raises a studded eyebrow, already knowing that she won't like it. "What is it?"

"Tori."

Neil isn't surprised when Jade groans and throws her head back but he really thinks it's time to talk about his patient's girlfriend. "How many times do I have to tell you I don't want to talk about her?"

"I know you don't want to but… you know… I don't really know _why_."

"_Because_! I just don't want to." She doesn't really have a specific reason as to why she doesn't want to talk about Tori. She just doesn't want to. It's not like she's here to talk about _Tori_, she's here to talk about _Aiden_, which… she doesn't really do either but that's not really the point. Jade doesn't want to talk about her relationship. _Or_ about her feelings for Tori. Not to Neil. Not to anyone. It's private and she likes to keep it that way.

"But Jade, I just think it would be good if I knew a little bit about her. She's a very important person in your life after all."

"Yeah, so? You already know stuff about her. She goes to Hollywood Arts, where we also met each other. She's dating me. Isn't that enough?"

"No."

"Oh my God," she whines, squeezes her eyes shut and throws her head back again, "If I wouldn't have already figured out that you're Tori only in male form, your stupid persistence would surely bring the proof now."

Neil grins and leans forward, thinking he managed to crack Jade. "I'm Tori in male form? How should I understand that? Care to explain?"

"Well, you're-" Jade stops when she realizes that Neil almost had succeeded yet again in making her open up without actually really trying. She narrows her eyes and scrutinizes her innocent looking therapist. "Wait a moment. Stop playing these little tricks on me! You always do that! Strike up a conversation and then waiting for me to slip something with which you can work. And then you make me talk about it without me even realizing it! That's manipulation!"

Neil laughs and shakes his head. "It kind of is, yeah. But you're making it pretty easy, you know." He smiles and tilts his head to the side. "So, tell me about her."

"Why do you want me to talk about her?"

"Because she's important to you. And you love her. You wouldn't have saved her if you didn't love her."

"Maybe I would have. You don't know that." She sighs tiredly and rubs her forehead and after briefly closing her eyes, she turns back to Neil and lets out a long breath. "Okay. Fine. You're not going to leave me alone with it anyways. And you're annoying so… what do you want to know?"

Neil smiles contently and rubs his hands together. "Just tell me about her. Or tell me: why am I the male version of Tori?" Jade watches as Neil places his elbows on his legs and laces his fingers together, resting his chin on them while he waits for Jade to start.

"Well," she sighs, "I don't really know. I guess you two share many similar characteristics. You're both so annoyingly persistent. The almost always present smile on your faces and... you always seem to be in a good mood, no matter what. And then there is your "I'm going to save the day" attitude." Jade looks down at her hands and shakes her head. "I used to really despise that about Tori. She always wants to make everything better and she absolutely _hates_ to see people sad or upset. When she first got to Hollywood Arts… seriously, all this 'positive outlook' crap she had going on, sometimes made me want to throw up. But then… then she kind of… crept her way in." Neil smiles, his notebook and pen completely forgotten on the little table in front of him, as he listens to Jade talk about Tori. Jade's eyes are still fixed on her hands and she seems to be completely absorbed in her thoughts about Tori.

"I fell for her. I didn't even know what was happening at first. I was still with Beck, my now ex-boyfriend at the time, and I never wanted anyone but him, be it boy or girl. But then… Tori came and… and she was so perfect and I hated that." Her eyebrows furrow as she starts to play with the edge of her skirt. "All of sudden, she got all the roles, she became the new star at school. And to top that off, I fell in love with her. Along with everyone else, I mean, how could you not? Like I said, she's… she's just perfect. She's pretty and nice and generous. So talented. And just… simply perfect."

"Did Beck know about Aiden?" Neil inquires softly and reaches for the pen and paper. Jade flicks her eyes up for a short moment before she focuses back on her hand playing with her skirt. "Yeah, he did."

After quickly scribbling something down, Neil looks back up and frowns slightly. "So, if you had a boyfriend, I assume you and Tori didn't get together until much later, am I right?"

"No, it took a while," Jade chuckles and shakes her head, "I needed Beck. He was the only one who knew about Aiden and… I knew he loved me. But… I just didn't love him anymore. I just wanted to be with Tori. And after I realized that Tori had feelings for me too, I broke up with Beck. And well… Tori and I became a couple."

"And you didn't regret breaking up with Beck?"

Jade scoffs and looks up for a short moment. "No. Are you crazy? I had everything I wanted. I got Tori. I love her. Beck was my first love but he doesn't even compare to Tori. She's just… I don't even know how to say it… she's…"

"Yeah?"

"I hate what she does to me. That she can turn me into such a sappy idiot," she scoffs and slightly shakes her head. "But… if I could, I'd… I'd always be with her. I just can't get enough of her. I hate that she makes me feel so much. I hate that she makes me so weak."

There's a short silence in which Jade warily turns back to Neil. A content expression has settled on his face and Jade rolls her eyes and shakes her head, again looking away from him.

Neil just smiles and puts his pen and paper down, clasping his hands together and leaning forward. "You know what I think?"

"No, but I'm sure you are going to tell me now."

"You said you hate the way she makes you weak," he pauses, still smiling. Jade still has her head turned away from him but Neil knows she's listening. "But I think you're looking at it from the wrong perspective. Tori makes you feel all those things you actually don't even want. But at the same time, you just… you need her. You _need _her and you _yearn _for the feelings she evokes inside of you. And that scares you, which is completely understandable." He pauses again, watching as Jade swallows. "You want to go through life alone. You don't _want_ all these feelings inside of you. But believe me when I say this, Jade," he nods his head and sits up straight again, "Tori doesn't make you weak. She makes you strong."

Jade's lips part and even if she wanted to say something, even if she wanted to deny everything Neil just said, she wouldn't be able to, because she _knows_... Neil is absolutely right.

...

_2 weeks later._

She groans when the bright sunlight hits her face and quickly throws her arm over her eyes. "Close the curtains!"

"No!" Jade doesn't even have to look at Tori to see that her lips form a pout at this very moment. But Jade really couldn't care less about that right now. She just wants to be left alone, without anyone disturbing her and most importantly, in the _darkness_. "It's such a nice day and you're lying here huddled up in bed!" Tori frowns when Jade doesn't move an inch. Slowly, she walks over and takes a seat on the bed. "What's wrong?"

A loud sigh rattles out of her mouth. "Just go, please. I want to be alone." Tori's frown only deepens but she nods eventually, even though she knows Jade can't see her. "Oh. I… I'm sorry, I probably should have called first…"

She gets up but stops when she feels a tug on her t-shirt. Tori turns her head to see Jade sitting up, her hand pulling at her shirt until Tori sits down again. "_I'm _sorry. You know you don't have to call before you come over." She sighs again and shakes her head, her hand grabbing Tori's. "I just don't feel so good today, okay?"

Jade's thumb gently rubs over her hand and Tori slightly shifts on the bed to get more comfortable. "Why? What's wrong?"

It's the second time Tori asks and Jade knows that she just wants to help her. She's always so worried about her and Jade starts to feel bad for pushing her away, even though Tori only wants all the best for her. "I… I just have a lot on my mind today. That's all."

"Aiden?"

Jade nods, ignoring the way it gets harder to breathe for her, only by the mere mention of her brother's name. Tori stays silent, probably waiting for Jade to talk about it. But Jade just looks down, playing with her fingers, a habit she picked up from Tori. She can see Tori biting her lip out of the corner of her eye, her nervous eyes flicking from Jade to Jade's hands and back again. "Neil wants to talk about him today. About… that night."

Jade lifts her head, meeting Tori's eyes, her brown orbs looking at her full of understanding. "But… you know you don't have to do anything you don't want. I thought Neil doesn't push you."

"He doesn't," her eyes move down again and she shakes her head, "But he asked me the last time if I think I would be able to… talk about him and I said I'll think about it."

"Okay. Well, if you think you can't do it, then it really isn't a problem. Neil knows it's hard for you and… he'll understand."

Jade lets out a harsh sigh and runs a hand through her hair. "I know! But I've been going there for so long and I still always refuse to talk about it but… I have to sometime. I'm not going to get better otherwise and I'm making zero progress right now, Tori."

"Oh, that's not true," Tori says and moves to sit next to Jade, her arms encircling Jade's body, "You made a _lot _of progress. You don't stay in bed 24/7 anymore, for example."

"Yeah, because you refuse to let me. I would if I could."

Tori frowns but then gives Jade a light squeeze, a smirk forming on her lips. "Well, as much as I love to spend time with you _in bed_, it can also be nice to go out with you or do something outside the bedroom."

She doesn't get the hoped reaction out of her girlfriend, only a faint smile tugging at the corner of Jade's lips. Tori sighs and bends down to press a firm kiss against Jade's fabric clad shoulder.

"You know, it's like… he's still here." Tori lifts her head from Jade's shoulder and watches as Jade's eyebrows crease together. "Like he's still trying to get in between us by… using the guilt I'm feeling against me. And I know this is probably a really bad thing to think about my dead brother but…" she trails off with a deep sigh, her eyes closing, and shakes her head. When Jade opens her eyes again she turns to Tori with a questioning look. "Do you… Do you know what I mean?"

Tori nods slowly, a deep frown on her face. "Yeah. I do."

Jade stares at the brunette for a while, flicking her eyes all over Tori's face, before she sighs and looks back down at her hands. "I considered… not going… today."

It's silent for a while, weirdly so Jade thinks and looks up to find Tori frowning at her. "Since when is Jade West a coward?"

Jade's eyebrows shoot up. Actually she had expected a little sympathy, not… Tori calling her a coward. "I-I," she breaks off, shaking her head in puzzlement and Tori raises a single eyebrow as she waits for Jade to spit out a proper sentence. "I'm not a coward," she finally splutters out resulting for a smile to form on Tori's face, "I didn't say I _really_ wasn't going, I said I _considered _it!"

"Well, good. But maybe you should get ready then." Tori gets up and holds her hand out, winking at Jade. The pale girl just rolls her eyes and ignores Tori's outstretched hand, scrambling out of bed and shuffling over to her closet. She _would_ go to therapy. If only to prove to Tori that she's _far_ from cowardly.

**…**

The constant _tick tock_ noise of the clock in Neil's office reaches Jade's ears and the longer she listens to it, the louder it seems to get. She's fully aware of the grey-bluish eyes watching her but Jade chooses to ignore them just for a little while longer. Her own eyes are running along the large bookshelves leaning against one wall of the spacious room and she really wonders if Neil had read all of the books that are neatly lined up there. Her ears listen as Neil shifts and when he clears her throat, Jade's heart almost takes a leap.

"So… are you ready?"

Jade's wide eyes quickly focus on the man sitting in front of her, her teeth firmly biting down on her bottom lip. She doesn't say anything and Neil lets out a sigh, shaking his head. "Jade, we really don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I don't want to pressure you into anything."

"No, I want to. I need to… I have to."

Both of them take a deep breath, Neil leaning back and carefully watching Jade, while Jade closes her eyes for a brief moment. "So, um…" she starts, frowning slightly, "Are you going to give me… I don't know, guidance or something? Or maybe ask me questions? I really don't know how to… how to start."

"I can ask you questions if you want?"

He takes in the hesitant nod from Jade and readies himself for whatever would happen today. "Okay. Can you still remember what thoughts ran through your head that night? What did you think about when you killed Aiden to save Tori?"

_When you killed Aiden… _She swallows and takes in a deep breath through her nose to stop her heart from beating even faster than it already does. "I don't… I don't know. I knew I had to do something and… I felt the knife in my hand that Aiden had forgotten. I… looked at it and… Honestly, I don't think I've thought about anything. The only thing that crossed my mind was that… I couldn't let Tori die."

She starts to get lost, she starts to feel herself being pulled back in time until she almost feels the heaviness of the knife in her hand and smells the strong scent of blood. Neil watches her carefully, Jade's eyes unfocused and glazed. "I lifted the knife and I remember… I remember how much it hurt my arm." She frowns and slightly shakes her head. "And then I… I… I just," her mouth stays open as she rings for words and simultaneously tries to keep her tears in, "I… The knife sank into his back and…"

Her eyes squeeze shut when she can almost hear that nauseating sound the knife made when it sank deep into Aiden's body, piercing through his insides. "God, I didn't mean to. He fell over and Tori looked at me and… she looked so… so _shocked_ and I finally really realized what I did."

Her throat releases a strangled noise, tears brimming on the edge of her eyes, just waiting for the right moment to spill over. Neil shuffles forward when Jade starts to shake her head, her voice breathy as she mumbles "I didn't want to. He didn't deserve it. He was my brother. It's not right, I-"

She breaks off suddenly, her lips tightly pressing together and eyes staying shut when her memories from that night start to overwhelm her. Jade's body begins to tremble slightly and Neil puts his pen and paper down, his eyes never leaving Jade. He jumps to his feet, quickly walking over and letting himself sink down next to Jade. Her eyes stay firmly shut even as Neil places his hand on her knee in an attempt to get her attention. "Jade," he calls alarmed but Jade doesn't show any reaction.

"I can't… I-"

"It's okay, it's okay," Neil almost whispers and gives her knee a light shake, "You don't have to. We can stop."

When Jade's tears finally manage to escape and a strangled sob cuts through the silence, Neil removes his hand from her knee and slides closer. He really doesn't care if it's professional or not, his heart cracks at seeing the normally so witty and strong-willed girl he spent so much time with so distraught. It's an instinct to open his arms to offer a hug and when Jade doesn't seem to mind the contact, he fully envelopes her, Jade's tears soaking his white shirt.

* * *

_A/N: I don't like this chapter. That's my personal review. I hope you like it though. Next chapter will be the last one, just a heads up._


	15. Chapter 14

Jade's lips release a loud sigh when she finally arrives at her destination. It's awfully quiet after she shut off the engine and she slowly turns her head towards the brunette sitting in the passenger seat. Tori is already looking at her, her lips tightly pressed together, but as soon as she sees Jade looking at her, she begins to smile softly. "Are you ready?"

Her throat seems to constrict, her heart beats faster and Jade can only manage a small nod. They both get out of the car, Jade taking in as much air as she can before she locks her car and makes her way over to Tori, who already holds out her hand. They walk in silence through the big rusty gate, the only sounds coming from the leaves crushing under their feet and a bird chirping from a tree somewhere. They walk and walk and the nearer they come, the more nervous Jade gets. Her stomach begins to tie up in knots when they finally reach the stone they are looking for.

_Aiden James West_

_27__th__ of January 1990 – 18__th__ of August 2012 _

_You'll always be in our memory._

Her vision seems to shift in front of her, the writing on the grey stone slightly blurring in her eyes. Jade barely feels the tight squeeze of Tori's hand, her mind completely blank. She hadn't been here since the funeral and even then did she leave earlier because she just couldn't do it. But she has to seek out the confrontation, if she wants to be able to move on with her life. Jade's ears can hear Tori's voice calling for her but she's not able to move or talk or to simply react, she just can't take her eyes off of the gravestone engraved with the name of her brother. Her brother who wanted to kill her girlfriend, who, at the end, didn't even care if he hurt his little sister. He was crazy, psychotic, a really, really bad person who in many people's opinions probably deserved to die. But he just _didn't_ deserve to die. Jade wouldn't ever think that he deserved it. She still loves him, and the only person she really hates is herself.

"Jade…"

Only now does the young West girl register that her cheeks are damp from the seemingly never stopping tears streaming like waterfalls out of her eyes. Warm arms wrap around her shivering body, enclosing her in warmth and comfort. "Tori…" She almost can't recognize her own voice as it trembles and breaks by just saying one word. The arms tighten but Tori stays silent. "I miss him so much, Tori." She stops to take a deep breath. "Is that wrong?"

Tori's eyes close when she takes in Jade's strained voice, so loaded with doubt and pain. She can't bear to see her like this anymore, so broken and completely devastated. It just got worse since she told Neil about the night of Aiden's death and Tori really hated that Jade felt like this. But Neil said it was normal for Jade to react like this. _"It's a sign that I broke through. She faces her fears. She faces her pain. Unfortunately it's necessary." _

"It's not, Jade," she says quietly into Jade's ear, both pairs of eyes fixed on the grave in front of them, "It's okay."

A sob rattles her throat and Tori tightens her arms around Jade again, scared that her legs might give up at any second. "It doesn't feel okay."

Jade's teeth clamp her lip tightly and her body tiredly sinks back into Tori's. "But it is," Tori whispers with her eyes squeezed shut, Jade's pain getting the best of her. "It's okay, Jade. You're allowed to miss him. It's okay, it really, really is."

They stand there for a long while, with Jade's small sobs cutting through the otherwise quiet cemetery and Tori's soft voice trying to reassure her girlfriend. When all tears seem to be gone and no new ones tried to escape, Jade lifts a hand to wipe at her eyes and then she slowly untangles herself from Tori. "I want to go now," she simply says and Tori doesn't say a word, only hooking her arm through Jade's and guiding her to the exit in silence. When they almost reach the big gate that would lead them to the parking lot, Jade's feet slow down until she comes to a complete standstill. Her bright eyes find Tori's confused face looking at her and she shakes her head, pressing her lips together and looking around herself before she settles back on the brunette in front of her.

"What's the matter?"

Tori moves closer, her left hand finding Jade's elbow while her right one proceeds to push a strand of hair out of Jade's face. She watches as blue eyes fill with tears once again. "I… Neil said I would get better. But I'm not getting better, Tori. I'm just… not."

"You will. It just takes a while. But that's okay, you can do it."

Jade shakes her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. "No, I can't. I'm not strong enough."

Tori's eyebrows move down in a tight frown and her hand strokes Jade's cheek. "Of course you are."

"I'm not! I'm not, Tori." She moves her head away from Tori's caresses, causing Tori's hand to fall onto her shoulder. They're both silent then, standing in the middle of the cemetery, Tori looking at Jade worriedly and Jade still facing away from her. But then, Tori's fingers gently graze over Jade's cheek and turn her head towards her. Stormy blue meets warm brown and Tori's hand that's resting on Jade's shoulder moves to her back, pushing Jade's body a little closer to her.

"Then I'm going to be strong enough for both of us."

She doesn't say anything else and gently presses her lips to Jade's forehead, before she snakes her arm around Jade's waist. The brunette smiles, relieved when Jade gives her a nod and a small smile of her own in return, and slowly guides them out to Jade's car.

…

Tori silently places a blanket over Jade's sleeping form, careful not to wake her girlfriend out of her seemingly nightmare-free sleep. In the last few nights Jade woke up at least once because of nightmares plaguing her. She'd wake up screaming, crying, trashing around and Tori always had a hard time calming her down again. But like Neil said, this was just the result of him breaking through, this was the first step for Jade to overcome her guilt and her pain.

And apparently, it is supposed to hurt.

But Tori can't seem to get rid of that nagging feeling in her stomach, that tells her that maybe, just _maybe_ Neil isn't right and Jade would never be okay again. That feeling arose again today, when Jade told her that she isn't strong enough. What if she really isn't? What if this whole thing will drive her insane eventually and she'll do something she will most definitely regret?

_No Tori, stop!_

She really has to stop thinking about _that_ kinda stuff. It won't happen, it's _not _going to happen, Jade will get better. She blinks dazedly and tears her eyes away from Jade, getting up from the arm chair in the West living room and picking up the empty cup from the coffee table. She smiles slightly and flicks her eyes over to Jade again. How a person can drink so much coffee every day and still be able to sleep perfectly will always be a mystery to Tori.

Tori faintly hears the jingling of keys and lets her eyes wander to the door, just in time to see Jade's mother appearing in the doorframe. She smiles and opens her mouth to greet her daughter's girlfriend but Tori quickly holds a finger to her lips. Jade's mom frowns and steps into the living room, her gaze following Tori's to see Jade lying on the couch, soundly asleep. Tori smiles and holds the empty cup up, flicking her head to the kitchen. The two silently walk into the kitchen, Ms. West closing the door behind her and Tori putting the Jade's cup into the dishwasher.

"So, were you two… at Aiden's grave today?"

Tori turns around and inhales deeply, her eyes meeting the green one's of Jade's mother. She nods slowly and watches as a sad smile appears on Ms. West's face. "How was it?"

"Not that-… I mean… It was… okay, I guess," Tori finally stutters out. She sighs and runs a hand through her hair. "She cried and asked me if it was okay for her to miss him and… cried some more and then… she told me that she didn't think she was strong enough."

Jade's mom closes her eyes and sighs while Tori starts picking her nails. When she opens her eyes again, Ms. West moves to sit at the kitchen table, motioning for Tori to join her. Ms. West breaks their short silence, her voice quiet and soft. "What did you say to her?"

"I," she pauses, looking down at the table, "told her that she _is _strong enough but she didn't believe me and insisted that she wasn't." Tori bites her lip, flicking her eyes up for a short moment but immediately looking down again, shrugging her shoulders. "Then I told her that I would be strong for both of us. That seemed to calm her down."

Jade's mother nods her head. "That's good." She carefully observes the young girl sitting across from her, whose brown eyes are still glued to the table. "I'm really happy she has you, Tori."

Tori looks up and sees Jade's mom smiling at her. It surprised her sometimes, that Ms. West is still so nice and accepting of her. Technically, _she _was the reason why Aiden is dead. If she and Jade didn't get together, Aiden would still be alive. "But I can't take away her pain. She feels awful and I can't do _anything_ to make it better."

"That's not true, Tori," Ms. West reaches out to take Tori's hand and shakes her head, "You always being there is helping her so much, sweetheart. You're always by her side, you _stay_ even when she tries to push you away… That's what she needs, Tori. _You _are what she needs."

Tori stays silent and smiles when Ms. West pats her hand, telling her that she's going to take a shower. She stays seated at the table for a long time, replaying the words Jade's mother had said to her. Jade needs her. Jade especially needs her to be strong. She has to stop hanging herself up on stupid thoughts, instead, she needs to focus all of her attention on Jade's healing process. There are a million of tiny pieces scattered around but Tori will pick up every single one of them, gluing them back together until everything is repaired and everything goes back to normal. Jade's going to be fine eventually. Tori would make sure of it.

She slowly gets up from her seat and walks back into the living room, surprised to hear faint talking. The TV is on and Jade is awake, her eyes fixed on the TV and her hand tightly gripping the blanket up to her chin. "Hey, you. I thought you were sleeping."

Jade's tired eyes snap over to Tori, who carefully takes a seat by Jade's legs. "I was," Jade states, shifting a little to make more room for Tori, "But you know, then…" Tori raises her eyebrows when she makes a dramatic pause, a smirk finally making its way on Jade's face when she continues. "I woke up."

Tori smiles and rolls her eyes, her hand getting comfortable on Jade's hip. "You don't say. How are you feeling?"

Jade's shoulder lifts in a shrug. "I'm fine." She scoots forward a little and reaches her hand back, patting the free spot behind her. "Come lay with me."

Tori obeys and wiggles between the back rest of the sofa and Jade, her arm draping over Jade's stomach and her lips softly pressing against the back of her head. Jade smiles and shifts again so that she's lying on her back, her head turning to look into Tori's eyes. "You know what, Vega?"

"What?"

Jade sighs contently and moves her head closer. "I really do love you," she whispers, the TV now completely forgotten as she locks her eyes with Tori's. She smiles slightly at the grin that breaks out onto Tori's face, almost lighting up the entire room. Tori slowly inches closer and finally closes the gap between them. The kiss doesn't last very long but it leaves a smile on both of their lips.

"I love you too."

Jade smiles and pecks Tori's lips again before she turns her head away, her attention now focused on the TV. But Tori's eyes stay fixed on Jade and she suddenly feels that everything will be okay. Tori will do anything for her. She's going to be there with Jade, no matter how long it may take for her to get better.

It's going to be alright.

* * *

_A/N: So that's the end! It's short, I know. Thank you for all the alerts, favorites and reviews! I loved writing this and I'm actually bummed that our lovely Aiden is dead. I mean, he was a nice guy if he wasn't actually busy killing people, right? Well anyways, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did!_

_P.S.: Don't leave too soon, I'll still be posting some Deleted Scenes. So stay tuned!  
_


	16. Deleted Scene: Cat & Jade's Talk

**__**_A/N: Takes place somewhere between Chapter 11 and 12._

* * *

**_-Cat & Jade's talk-_**

Her nimble fingers nervously tug at a strand of red hair, her bottom lip tightly captured between her white teeth. Her gaze flicks all over the room but never rests on the girl sitting in front of her. Jade watches her with narrowed eyes, the silence in the room getting more and more uncomfortable. It really isn't something usual for a room to be _that_ silent when Cat was in it. It's just not normal, it kind of feels wrong.

"So, Cat…"

Wide brown eyes fly to Jade's face, this being the first time she really looked at her best friend since she came into her room. Her teeth slowly let go of her lip and her mouth slightly stands open, anxiously waiting for Jade to continue.

"…What are you doing here?"

The redhead blinks confusedly, her hand falling from her hair and tightly clutching her other hand in her lap. "Well…" She's quiet again and looks away, taking in a deep breath. "I know you're not feeling well. I need to be there for you. You're my best friend."

Jade slowly nods, furrows her eyebrows and lets out a quiet hum. "I guess that's… nice of you," she nods again and actually enjoys the small smile that appears on Cat's face when she looks back at Jade, "But… you're not obligated to be here. It's obvious that you feel uncomfortable."

Cat's eyebrows move together and she looks at her lap. She's shrugging her shoulders when her quiet voice echoes through the room. "It's just… I never thought that… there really could be bad people around me." Jade almost laughs at Cat's childlike innocence. She always had been like that. Always believing that every human being has only good in them, pretending that stuff like murder or rape doesn't really exist. It's a really, really naïve, almost stupid view on life, but that's how Cat is. That's how she always was and maybe that's how she always will be.

"Why did you never tell me about Aiden?"

Cat's voice pulls Jade out of her thoughts and she has to strain her ears to really hear her. Cat looks up from her lap, her big brown eyes looking at her, so _hurt_ that Jade can't help but feel bad. Jade sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, her thumb and forefinger massaging the bridge of her nose before she reopens her eyes. "I just didn't want you to be scared. I mean, you… you loved Aiden. And… I just thought it would be for the best if… if that image you had of him… would keep up… Do you know where I'm getting at?"

"I… I don't know. What if Aiden had hurt me? Maybe he wanted to go after me, and I wouldn't have known he was dangerous because you didn't tell me."

"No! No, believe me, if I would have just had the slightest inkling that he would want to hurt you, I would have done _everything_ I could to protect you. But I knew he loved you. You were like me. He looked at you like you were his little sister."

Cat nods, a cracked smile on her face. "Yeah. That's true."

She's quiet – _again_ – and Jade really would have never thought that she would wish for Cat to be her usual so chipper self. She wants her to tell her weird stories about her freakshow of a brother. She wants her to say something which absolutely doesn't make sense and she wants to hear her giggle wildly because only she sees the humor in whatever she just told Jade. Jade knows that Cat is hurting too, Aiden was almost as important to her as he was to Jade. She could understand that she isn't really in the mood to laugh or talk because… well, Jade couldn't say that she is either. But maybe… maybe she's also scared. Of Jade. Jade's eyes widen involuntarily at the thought that her best friend might be scared of her.

"Uh, hey Cat, can I… I mean do you…" She trails off and shakes her head, pressing her lips together when she doesn't know how to form her sentence.

"What is it?"

Cat's curious brown eyes look at her and her raised eyebrows urge Jade on to continue. She pushes out a harsh breath before she decides to just go for it. "Do you count _me_ as one of the bad people in your life?"

Jade doesn't really want to care so much about Cat's opinion on her. She hates to be so… attached to people. But if Cat really judges her for what she did to Aiden… if she really is scared of her… Jade really doesn't think she would be able to handle it. Cat's lips part, her head tilts and her brows move together. She looks confused and Jade holds her breath while she waits for Cat's answer.

"No," her voice is strong and she shakes her head to prove her point, "Sometimes you can be really mean, but that's okay. I know you don't mean it if you say something bad to me."

"I… yeah, no, not because of that. I mean for… what I… _did_."

Cat looks at her, the confused expression on her face still prominent and it takes a while till it dawns on her what Jade is talking about. "Oh." It's all she says but for Jade it's answer enough. She hates her for it. Jade just knows it. Not only did she lose her brother, no, now she also lost her best friend. She wishes she would have been nicer to Cat in the past, made it clear to her that she really is so important to her. Now all she has is Tori, but who knows how long-

"I don't think you're a bad person." Jade's eyes snap up, relief flooding through her entire body. "I mean… you had to do it, didn't you? You didn't want Tori to die. Aiden was a really bad person," she looks down, her voice lowering, "I almost hate him for what he did to you and Tori. And to… Melissa… and Anna." Cat swallows loudly and when she looks back up at Jade, a sad smile is playing on her lips. "But I could never hate you, Jadey. I really love you and even though you may not be very nice at times, you will always be my best friend. Nothing in the _universe_ could change that."

She finishes her sentence with a light giggle and her eyes that previously were clouded with sadness and hurt, regained their usual sparkle. And despite of everything that went down and that is going on right now, Jade smiles at Cat, opening her arms to invite her for a hug. Cat hesitates for just a second before she makes a little bounce on the bed and throws herself into Jade's open arms.


	17. Deleted Scene: Do you regret it?

**__**_A/N: Takes place between Chapter 11 and 12._

* * *

**_-Do you regret it?-_**

"Okay. I'm done."

Jade's lips release a sigh, her hand shutting her math book and letting it fall onto the floor with a thud. The other things she needed to do her homework soon follow the book and Jade lets herself plop down on Tori's bed. She places her arms on her closed eyelids and after a couple of seconds, the bed sinks with another weight on it. A light peck is placed on her lips, a warm hand finding its place on her stomach.

"Baby?"

Tori waits for Jade to lift her arm and look at her but Jade shows no reaction. She bites her lip and her hand on Jade's stomach flexes, crunching up the material of Jade's shirt. "Jade."

"Hm?"

"You know I was wondering… if… if we could talk."

One of Jade's eyes cracks open and peeks out from under her arm. "About what?" she warily asks and watches Tori fidgeting on the bed. She's nervous, Jade can see that but she really couldn't think of a reason as to why she would feel that way. Tori stays quiet, looking down at her hands. Jade sighs, removes her arm from her eyes and sits up, her eyes traveling over Tori's face to figure out what is bugging her. "What do you wanna talk about? Is something wrong?"

"N-No, I mean… I _hope_ nothing's wrong," she stutters. Jade furrows her eyebrows and opens her mouth to ask what she means when Tori looks up, uncertainty swimming in her eyes. She just looks at her for a long moment before she sighs and turns away, shaking her head and pressing her lips together. Tears have started to form when she looks back and Jade gets slightly worried. "Do you regret saving me from Aiden?"

Jade's mouth falls open and her brows draw down. Tori quickly continues. "I just mean that… he was your brother and I know you loved him so much and… and… I'm just scared that you might regret…"

She trails off and lifts her hands helplessly before letting them fall back down, a tear rolling down her cheek. Jade's face slowly relaxes and looks away from Tori, blinking a couple of times when she repeated her words in her head. "Tori, how," she shakes her head and turns her head to look at Tori again, "how can you even think that?"

The look in Jade's eyes is so intense, slight hurt mixing in with the fatigue on her face. Tori shakes her head and looks down just as another tear escapes. "I don't know. I just know how bad you are feeling and I don't want you to… to blame me." Tears steadily roll down her cheeks when she looks up again and her voice is thick. "I don't want you to hate me someday."

Jade's eyes close for a short moment and when she opens them again, Tori is facing away from her, her bottom lip so tightly captured between her teeth that it's nearly turning white. Jade shifts closer to Tori and gently cups Tori's cheek in her hand to turn her head towards her. "Tori," she sighs, tears falling onto the skin of her hand, "I won't hate you. Ever. I never hated you, I don't hate you now and I sure as hell won't hate you in the future." She lifts her other hand to run it through Tori's soft hair. "What I did… hurts me _so much_ but… not because I regret saving you. I had to make a decision," Jade's voice shakes and she looks down for just a moment, "And as harsh as it may sounds… it was actually… a pretty easy decision for me." Her eyes find Tori's again. "I would do it all over again if I really had to. I wouldn't be able to live without you. I'm selfish, I know, but…" She tries to crack a smile but it ends up looking more like a grimace. "I like being selfish."

Tori nods and smiles. It always amazed her how Jade could touch her with her words so much, how her love for her would shine through every syllable without her actually having to say those three words to her. She sucks in her bottom lip, her teeth biting down on it again.

"Stop biting your lip," Jade whispers and Tori stops as soon as she said it, Jade's lips descending on hers to make everything better.


	18. Deleted Scene: Words of advice

_A/N: Set before Chapter 12._

* * *

**_-Words of advice-_**

Tori sighs deeply as she watches Jade's car disappear down the street. She really hadn't meant to push her, all she wanted to do was to talk. Releasing a harsh breath, Tori slowly makes her way back inside and leans against the door after she closed it. It kills her to see Jade so broken and hurt. She wants to help her. She wants to make her feel better. And Tori knows that Jade has to talk about Aiden, she has to let out what she's feeling, what she's thinking and Tori is more than willing to listen.

"Tori!"

Tori's eyes languidly flick over to the stairs, seeing Trina coming down and looking at her. "I need to borrow your blue shirt. You know which one I mean? With these things on the front?" Her hands wave around in front of her, trying to show Tori what 'things' she meant. "It's not in your closet, so where is it?"

Tori pushes out a long sigh, her hand running through her hair as she walks over to the sofa, plopping down on it. "I don't know. I guess it's in the laundry."

"Ugh, great! What am I supposed to wear then?"

"Well, why don't you just wear some of your own clothes for a change, hm?"

Trina jut rolls her eyes at her little sister before she lets her eyes wander around the room. She frowns. "Wasn't Jade here just a second ago?"

"She went home."

Tori's quiet voice throws her off a little, her snappy attitude towards her completely gone. Trina slowly steps closer and observes Tori, crossing her arms and leaning her hip against the backrest of the couch. "Did you have a fight with her?"

"Nope," she lets the 'p' pop and leans back, "I don't really know what happened. She just wanted to go home all of sudden."

Trina swings one leg over the backrest, then the other and lets herself fall onto the sofa, her feet landing in Tori's lap. "Why's that?"

Tori presses her lips together and hesitates. Trina isn't usually one to throw herself at Tori to talk about Jade and Tori's relationship. It surprises her to see her so… interested, if you could call it that. Tori figures she just doesn't have anything better to do and makes use of the situation of Trina being there to listen to her. "I tried to get her to talk about Aiden. I mean, she just _has_ to talk about it some time. It can't be good to keep everything inside. But she… it was just… she totally… you know…"

"Uh, Tori? Talk proper English with me."

Tori sighs and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment to collect her thoughts. When she opens them again, Tori takes a deep breath and starts again. "She didn't want to talk and kept trying to change the subject. But I didn't want that. I wanted to talk. And well… then she told me she had to go home and… left."

It's quiet and Tori turns her head to look at her sister. Her eyes are small as she looks at her with creased eyebrows, looking at Tori as if she is doubting her sanity. "And that surprises you?"

"Wh-What are you talking about? Of course it does."

Trina lets out an exaggerated loud sigh and sits up, swinging her legs off of the sofa and shifting closer to Tori. "Jade doesn't _want_ to talk. And _you _try to pressure her into something she clearly doesn't want to do. _Of course_ she bails on you."

Tori's mouth hangs open as she stares at Trina, not being able to believe what she just heard. "So… you're siding with Jade? _You_? With _Jade_?"

Trina rolls her eyes. "I'm not siding with anybody. You're being so childish right now, Tori. Can't you understand where Jade is coming from?"

Of course she knows where she's coming from. And she can understand it on one side but… on the other side Tori just wants her to let her in completely. Jade has to understand that she can talk to her without being scared or being judged because Tori would never say or do something to hurt her. The guilt for killing her brother won't just go away by itself, bottling up is not the right way to go about it. Tori just wants Jade to understand that. Trina's right (which actually creeps her out a little bit), she _is _being childish but she just can't help it.

"Yes, I can understand her but… but she has to understand that she can talk to me. Maybe I can do something to… reassure her. To make her feel better."

"Did you ever think about the possibility that she doesn't necessarily want to talk to _you_ about it?"

Tori's mouth opens to retort something but it quickly snaps back shut when she realizes that it actually _could_ be a possibility. "I... I don't know. Maybe that's… yeah, that could be true." Tori blinks but then sighs exasperatedly, throwing her hands up and letting them fall again. "But she doesn't talk to anyone else either! Not to her mom, not to Beck, not to Cat. Whereas… Cat probably wouldn't be such a good idea because, you know, she's Cat, but… that's really not the point! I would even be happy if she would talk to her!"

She looks back at Trina only to see her older sister rubbing her forehead and shaking her head. "What? What is it now?" Tori questions without trying to hide her obvious annoyance, Trina's behavior slightly ticking her off. How come she's such a 'Jade expert' all of sudden? The last time she checked, Trina still hated Jade and did everything she could to avoid having to talk to, or about her.

"Okay, let's pretend I'm a psychotic nutcase and I want to kill Jade because I think she takes you away from me-"

"Trina!"

"What? Just listen to me for a second!" Tori rolls her eyes and crosses her arms but other than that she keeps quiet. "Thank you. So as I said, I want to kill Jade, okay? So I kidnap you and her, drive you somewhere completely secluded where no one would expect you to be and then, I manage to get Jade alone. You find me and her and I'm just about to kill her. So you have to decide: let your weird psychopathic sister kill Jade _or _save the love of your life," Tori actually smiles at that but Trina doesn't seem to notice, continuing with her story. "Well, what do you do? You kill me and of course you're glad that Jade's okay and blah, blah, blah. But," Trina holds her finger up and leans forward, her eyes narrowed, "You're also totally devastated because you killed your _own _sister. Now, lovely Jade tries to talk to you about me but you don't _want_ to talk about me. And _why _don't you want to talk about me?"

"Because… I… want to deal with it alone?"

"Wrong!" Tori flinches a little at Trina's shout and pushes the finger Trina jabbed at her face to the side. "You don't want to talk about me because it hurts. Everything hurts. The fact that you killed me, the fact that you never would have thought I would do something so horrible _and_ the fact that you still miss me, even though I tried to kill your girlfriend. Because, you know, I would still be fabulous even if I'd be a crazy killer," Trina pushes her hair over her shoulder in a way only Trina could and continues, "Anyways, that's why Jade doesn't want to talk. She's still hurting. And maybe talking to you or her mom or any of her friends is just… I don't know… maybe it reminds her too much of Aiden."

Tori nods, a little perplexed, and uncrosses her arms. "Wow. That actually… all made sense… I think." She pauses and looks at her hands. Why didn't _she_ think of all of what Trina said? It's the most logical thing, Tori just can't believe she didn't look at it from that angle. Her eyes lift again and look at a nodding Trina, a smug smile on her face.

"But you know, the last sentences would have been enough. You didn't have to retell everything with you as the killer."

"Well, I just wanted it to make more personal so that it would get into your tight skull."

Trina smirks at the eye roll she receives and reaches out to take Tori's hand in hers. "Listen, Tor. Pushing Jade will get you nowhere. She needs time. And I mean, if even _I _can understand that, it should be a piece of cake for you, right?"

Tori smiles and looks down, giving Trina's hand a slight squeeze. "Yeah. You're right. Thank you, Trina." Trina only smiles back and nods and Tori tilts her head. "I'm actually really surprised that you're so… nice while talking about Jade."

"Oh well. Sure, I have to admit, I was never a big fan of the vampire lady but… believe it or not, I want her to feel better too. Jade isn't really Jade without the frequent snarky comments and her attitude. And you're not really Tori without that normal Jade around."

Trina smiles but then furrows her eyebrows when an idea strikes. "Hey, maybe it would help to get professional help. Like a therapy or something."

"_What_?!"

"My God, Tori! Calm down. I didn't say her parents should check her into some mental institution! Just, you know… find her some place where she can talk to someone. Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone who doesn't really know you."

She gets up then, saying that she has to find something else to wear if Tori's blue shirt isn't available, and pats Tori's head before slowly going upstairs, probably not only raiding hers, but also Tori's closet. Tori watches her leave before turning back around to fix her eyes on a spot on the coffee table.

_Therapy, huh?_


End file.
